Allentown comes alive for First Friday

September 7, 2012 - 11:41 AM

Tonight is Allentown First Friday, the popular monthly gallery walk during which many Buffalo art galleries host opening receptions for their latest exhibitions. Here's a look at some of what's on view:

"Graham Sears: A Delicate Balance" at the Benjaman Gallery, 6 to 9 p.m.:

"10 Circles with Blue" a 2012 sculpture by Graham Sears made of, painted steel sheet and rod. Part of an exhibition of the artist's work opening in the Benjaman Gallery on Sept. 7, 2012.

For Graham Sears, as for many other artists and art lovers, his first encounter with the work of Alexander Calder and Joan Miró was transformative. The Buffalo-born sculptor, whose work is the subject of an exhibition opening tonight from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Benjaman Gallery (419 Elmwood Ave.), was inspired by the modernist artists’ experimentations with line and form and quickly folded that inspiration into his own work.

“I first saw their works over 30 years ago. It produced in me an intense pleasure, which was partly the effect of its complex yet elegant mechanical nature and partly the relentless energy expressed in its perpetual motion,” Sears wrote in his artist statement. “Today I experience ever more pleasure from designing and creating kinetic sculpture, and find it interesting to note what has come to characterize my particular style within the form, and which I continually strive to achieve: simplicity, elegance, and linearity.”

The Benjaman Gallery show, “A Delicate Balance,” is the first local exhibition of Sears’ work in more than two decades. It will feature new moving sculptures and mobiles and remains on view through Oct. 3. Call 886-0898 or visit www.thebenjamangallery.com.

Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, 341 Delaware Ave., 8 to 11 p.m.:

A still from "Here is Everything," a film to be presented in Hallwalls Contmporary Arts Center as part of an exhibition of new work by Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby.