Making Music Into Art: Martin Benjamin, Joe Putrock, John Whipple, Michael Eck

CLEMENT ART GALLERY
Last summer’s art exhibition at the Saratoga Arts Center, “Impasse & Motion: Ten Photographers’ Journeys through Instants in Music” (currated by Nippertown’s own chief photographer Andrzej Pilarczyk) was a near perfect melding of sound and vision.

Now the Clement Art Gallery in Troy is preparing to mount its own music photography exhibit. “The Great Rock N’ Roll Picture Show” features the eagle-eyed camera work of three fine Nippertown photographers – Martin Benjamin, Joe Putrock (who was also represented in “Impasse & Motion”) and John Whipple. The exhibition kicks off on Friday (January 27) with a reception from 6-9pm and runs through Wednesday, February 22.

DESOLATION ROAD STUDIOS
Michael Eck is better known as a musician – as a solo singer-songwriter as well as a member of Lost Radio Rounders and Ramblin Jug Stompers – but he’s also an accomplished visual artist whose paintings have been exhibited locally at such venues as the Arts Center of the Capital Region, Upstate Artists Guild, Firlefanz Gallery, Fulton Street Gallery and Caffe Lena.

“Blues On Fire: Blues, Jazz and American Icons, A Collection” is the title of Eck’s upcoming exhibit of his portraits of musical legends at Desolation Road Studios in Altamont. The exhibition opens with a reception from 2-6pm on Sunday, February 26. Eck will perform at the reception. The artwork will remain on view for a month and will close with another reception and performance on Saturday, March 31.