Michael Gutowski, is born and raised in the deep deep suburbs of Chicago, IL. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with his wonderful Maine Coon, Milo. He received a BFA in Photography from SVA in 2008 and has an undying passion for Arts in all forms. In his free time, he take photos of women and ask them to tell him a significant story about their lives. He also immerses himself in other arts such as drawing and music.

Michael is currently in the midst of starting a non-profit called, The Visionary Trust. His goal through starting this organization is to meet as many talented Artists and create a community in which Artists can feel comfortable to produce Artwork that is meaningful to each. He also wants to promote and support Artists that have the talent, but need the help to produce great work. He is secretly in love with robots and draws them everywhere. If Michael could accomplish one thing in his lifetime it would be to time-travel back to when dinosaurs lived to wrangle pterodactyls for his dinosaur ranch!

Lucky Gallery is very lucky to have Michael as an assitant director and will do everything in its power to assist him with his time machine traveling.

From October 9th to October 31st, Lucky Gallery will present “Nighttime is for Dreaming” a collaborative installation of light, sound, imagery and text, from New York artists’ Christoper Coggiano and Alix Sorrell and New Jersey based artists’ Ralph Maratta and “War of the Lightning Bugs”.

Coggiano’s light installations of wire and handmade paper are brilliant colors of organic shapes, pulling spontaneously from his subconscious mind. His whimsical and playful creations bring warmth to your inner child and feed your imagination as if you have just woken from a fantastic dream.

Maratta’s imagery in “Big Dreams” is inspired by the idea that humankind shares a bank of common images; “archetypes” or symbols in the collective or “universal unconscious” as described by the psychologist Carl Jung. Such symbols and themes common to mankind can be found in religion, mythology, fables and folklore. Maratta explores this common imagery in his most recent work.

Sorrell is collaborating with Maratta, interpreting his text and visually displaying it within context of the installation in the gallery.

“War of the Lightning Bugs” is providing an evolving experiment in spontaneous sound inspired by the repetition of each passing day, the aggressive tension of congested roadways, the peaceful dreaming of free time and the happiness of coming home on a Friday night. The soundtrack is a reaction to the imagery and themes of the photos and is used as a mechanism for triggering universal ideas and emotions.

“Nighttime Is for Dreaming.” is collaboration between gallery artists and director Laura Arena of Lucky Gallery.

“The changing of the gallery hours to evening hours, the use of light, spontaneous sound, imagery and text together form a mood associated with nighttime”, says Arena. “Dreaming and the unconscious play a key role in illuminating dormant ideas, just like artists often bring new ideas to the forefront of our minds.”

Christopher Coggiano

In 2002, his cultural political cartoons graced the The Allentown Times, and his sculptural collaboration with Michael Brolly and several other artists was featured in the book, Cabinets of Curiosity and American Craft magazine.

In 2005, Christopher moved to NYC where he works as a fine jeweler. He continues to paint, sculpt, and build lamps and hopes to one day share his art around the world.

Ralph Maratta, Study of Triangles

Ralph Maratta
Ralph Maratta studied photography in NYC from 1982 – 1984. Leaving the commercial-art field in 1994, he remained active as an artist, working primarily in black and white photography. His former projects include his travels through Asia, Europe, and North America in which he focused on the comparison and contrast of differing cultures.

Maratta’s current work draws from traditional, black & white photography and digital photographic processes. His photographs have been shown in local and corporate galleries and his work was most recently was featured on artinbrooklyn.com and the-art-world.com

Alix Sorrell
Alix Sorrell is a Brooklyn based graphic designer originally from Western Massachusetts. She graduated from University of Michigan with a BA in art history and Parson School of Design with a degree in graphic design. She keeps herself busy by painting murals for community gardens in Brooklyn and drawing dirty pictures of her co-workers. Before becoming a designer, she was a sushi chef in Montana.

“War of the Lightning Bugs”
War of the Lightning Bugs is an evolving experiment in spontaneous sound.

The music is inspired by the repetition of each passing day, the aggressive tension of congested roadways, the peaceful dreaming of free time and the happiness of coming home on a Friday night.

War of the Lightning Bugs resides in Shrewsbury, New Jersey.

Lucky Gallery
Lucky Gallery is located at 176 Richards Street in the heart of Red Hook Brooklyn, New York. Lucky Gallery works with underrepresented and emerging artists looking for a venue to share creativity and ideas in a supportive environment. For information, please contact Laura Arena at laura@luckygallery.com.

Lucky Gallery Hours: Fri/Sat 7-10 and by appt. only
Lucky Gallery Address: Lucky Gallery, 176 Richards Street, Brooklyn, NY. 11231