Alex Queral
"Perception : Reality "
April 3- 25, 2009 Projects Gallery

Things are not always as they seem. This elusive concept haunts the periphery of three distinct artists’ works. For the month of April, Projects Gallery announces three simultaneous solo shows of disparate artists who are united under the umbrella concept of Perception : Reality.

Cuban Alex Queral’s carved phonebooks receive “how’d-he-do-that?” attention wherever they travel. From local Philadelphians to citizens of Beruit to the millions in Europe who have discovered his work online and in the press, his lushly detailed carvings are created from the soft material of phonebooks. Utilizing classical carving techniques on an unexpected material, Queral brings forth the individual from the faceless masses. Queral crafts recognizable visages, vaguely familiar but elusively foreign, as well as evoking his own cast of characters from the bound sheets of paper.

Projects Gallery is pleased to present these three divergent artists from different regions of the continent. Each will be given their own exhibition space to focus on the individual artist, but the thematic thread connects them all. Popular in their own right, Perception : Reality invites the viewer to discover what lays beyond the first impression of these three artists’ works.

Perception : Reality will be on display April 6 - 25, 2009. There will also be an artist reception First Friday April 6th from 6 - 9 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public

Alex Queral
"Phone Book Heads"
May 6 - 28, 2005 Projects Gallery

Alex Queral started his artistic career as a professional jazz guitarist.  After more than a decade of following the wishes of his family, this Cuban-American decided to follow his heart.  Graduating magna cum laude with a B.F.A. from the University of Washington, Seattle, Alex then went on to earn his M.F.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  Although he has shown primarily in the Philadelphia area, his works have also been exhibited in New York City and Mexico City. This Cuban-born artist uses recycled, unwanted material - the phone book, home of tens of thousands of names.  Into this discarded catalog, using a razor knife and acrylic, the artist carves a single portrait as if the names of all of the catalog members join together to form a single person.

Alex has been developing his "phone book heads" for several years and believes that "carving and painting a head from a phone directory celebrates the individual lost in the anonymous list of thousands of names that describes the size of the community". He also likes "the idea of creating something that is normally discarded every year into an object of longevity".  Whether whimsical, serious or even haunting, these 3-dimensional heads have a quality that enhances the feeling of the piece as an object as opposed to simply a picture.