In the Flesh
In Old Town Alexandria, the Target Gallery inside the Torpedo Factory hired American University professor Tim Doud to jury “In the Flesh,” an exhibition to focus on the current trends in contemporary figurative art. As this focus is also one of my long-time interests, and as I have in the past curated many exhibitions along the same theme, I was particularly interested in seeing what Doud would select.
And the professor didn’t disappoint! Target received almost 600 entries from all over the country, from which Doud culled 25 pieces delivering an immensely diverse show, that according to Doud himself, aimed at trying to include works from different mediums and approaches.
There is also a strong current of narrative and social commentary issues going on with many of the pieces in the show.
Predictably, my favorite piece in the show was Forrest Solis (from Phoenix, AZ) “Le Corps Prope Part I,” a technically flawless composition which delivered a visual paradox of a female nude metamorphosing into a crocheted teddy bear... I think.
The painting showed remarkable technical facility coupled with a strong sense of perspective and an intelligent issue-raising image, which is still a little befuddling to me.
On my second visit later that day, I gravitated towards Michael Reedy’s “Elephant Man.” This is a very large mixed media piece, where this Ann Arbor, Michigan artist has also used enviable technical skills to mix charcoal, very subtle watercolor tones, colored pencils and some paper staining to deliver a male nude piece that seems to consist of very delicate layers of charcoal, almost being lifted from the surface of the paper.
The subject is a male nude in a fetal position, his head wrapped in a plastic bag. Barely visible in the background are scribbles, drawings, texts and cartoonish representations of an elephant. We see an image of Benjamin Franklin in the act of slicing his nose off, and this together with the text and other imagery reveals rather bluntly, that the artist is possibly delivering an indictment of his own nose?
The Franklin imagery is particularly quizzical, unless Reedy is somehow marrying his dislike for a nose too broad with racist connotations and Franklin’s infamous writings that early non-English immigrants to the new United States were not "purely white." Franklin, afraid of the large numbers of non English Europeans settling in the new nation, used the racial scare tactics that survive to this day in political speech to assert that that “Germans, Russians, and Swedes were of a swarthy complexion. Furthermore, only the Saxons and the English constituted the principal body of white people on the face of the earth.”
I was also attracted (or perhaps repulsed) to the two sculptural pieces by Atlanta’s Susan Krause. One was a set of huge breasts which could be worn as latex clothing of a sort, and which popped into my head the infamous tale of the 1940’s serial killer Ed Gein, who made and wore a human skin “suit” made from his victims’ skin. Only the title, "The Kena 123143A Hippie / Mother of 6," disarms the piece and takes Gein away from the brain and replaces it with an image of fertility triggered by flowers in her hair at some early point in the model's life.
Like any group show, there are some weak pieces in the show, and both of Quanhai Pan’s (from Houston, Texas) entries, “Window to the Soul 1” and “Window to the Soul 3” were badly painted works bordering on an average student work done at the last minute.
Chris Untalan (from Jamaica Plain, MA) has a beautiful classical graphite drawing of a fabulously rotund Mother Earth-type model, and our own area’s Danny Conant and former DC area photographer (now living and working in San Francisco) Samantha Wolov carry the torch for photographers with two strong portraits that cross the wide divide between photography and all other genres of fine art.
Lastly, Target’s new gallery director, the tiny but steel-strong Mary Cook has done wonders with the gallery space and direction since she took over a little over a year ago. Target is almost like a new space, with overhead lights that actually work to illuminate the subject and new walls to replace the ugly carpet that used to pass for gallery walls. More importantly, she has also delivered on new ideas for interesting exhibitions. She deserves a well-earned pat on the back and a bonus for delivering such an amazing turn around into this space in such a quick time.
The exhibition ends on October 13, 2007. See the show online here.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Tuss on Janis
By Katie Tuss
Michael Janis’s latest solo exhibition, The Quadrant of Sky, opened at the Neptune Gallery in Bethesda last Wednesday.
Janis, a glass artist and Washington Glass School co-director, uses fused and cast glass to explore the nuances of the human form and the varied layers of human interaction.
Janis first explored glass as an architect, and his figurative representations belie the precision of a draftsman while the construction of his pieces, often set in steel, is sleek and exact.
“Michael’s ability to glance at an image and know how to translate it using glass is amazing,” says Neptune Gallery's director Elyse Harrison.
Janis uses powdered black glass to create his drawings. The technique is labor-intensive and requires Janis to push the pigment particles into place to create his images. These ‘drawn’ images are then fused onto the glass in a kiln.
The free-standing and hanging pieces on exhibition are contemplative transparent environments. In his Delicate Balance series, Janis layers repeating portraits on curved plates of glass. The slightly skewed placement of the faces creates a countenance of reflection and self-consideration.
In his newest series, Unguarded Lives, Janis mixes colored glass and cast faces with the fused drawings. The drawn figures are fluid and dreamlike and the intent further open to interpretation.
The exhibition goes through October 6, 2007.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
In the Flesh
By Shauna Lee Lange
As some claim, if art is often about what's beautiful, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then art also has to be about what's unattractive, thought-provoking, downright shocking, and deeply disturbing.
It's the piece, much like the infamous Piss Christ, which makes you wonder, "Why would someone do that?"
John C. Manion of Iowa City, Iowa recently submitted such a piece to a juried competition of contemporary works. Manion's piece is titled Toward The Ideal, comes with a price tag of $8,000 and is one of over 500 entries submitted to In The Flesh, currently on exhibit at the Target Gallery in Old Town Alexandria.
Modeled clay and cast silicone (8" x 18.5" x 28.5") are formed to sculpt a naked baby, expressionless and totally immersed in rather believable bathtub water.
Long pause.
Repulsion.
Wait. Did I see that correctly? I mean, who thinks these things? And who spends time, energy, and materials on producing a work like this? Reeling, I remembered that maybe the manifestation of the subconscious mind, the repressed, and the taboo is cathartic in it's own right.
It's not all Manion's fault. I recently gave birth to my son who is now about the size and proportion of the submerged infant. No unsuspecting mother wishes to stumble upon yet more violence involving children. How can Manion know that this scene is what all mothers deeply fear - there are people out there who think and do very bad things and sometimes, we are powerless.
I tell you, my little guy just loves the water. When we're at the pool, we wonder, is swimming for him what it was like to be back in the womb? This warm, weightless, free floating experience -- and what if we could go through all of life like that? What if there's nothing more honest?
We're flesh. Bland flesh that needs to be washed. Flesh that is dangerously close to innumerable forces that could lead to demise. Flesh left best, perhaps, in an innocent and unknowing world, albeit the tub!
Some collectors seek pieces that are so outrageously in your face with the power to transport the viewer. In these, the see-er has a predictable experience trajectory- shock, numbness, cavalier disinterest. The viewer is relieved from a secret thought prison. That is credited directly to the artist who was brave enough to risk saying yeah, you're not the only one who has ever thought that.
I know a fellow who owns a piece so vile and yet, over time, he has come to regard it as high humor.
Laugh if you must, but look. In the Flesh is about what we all seek: meaning. Maybe Manion is asking, what does immersion of the flesh, immersion in water, in a work, in your own life and immediate paradigm, or immersion in art really mean to you?
In The Flesh, juried by AU Professor Tim Doud is on exhibition until October 13, 2007.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Congrats!
To DC area art wunderkind Jenny Davis, whose work we've been following since she was 13 years old, and who is currently in Art school and whose work and a profile of her will appear in next month's American Watercolor magazine.
New (virtual) gallery
Jessica Porter is launching Raandesk Gallery of Art a virtual gallery and art consultation biz in DC (among other places) and it starts with an art event next week.
The "Emergence Art Party" is sponsored by Raandesk Gallery of Art and there are two events over two nights (Thursday & Friday next week). The events are free with lots of contemporary art, including work by DC local Jeff Huntington.
The event will be in a very, very new and very empty condo in the Flats at Union Row (14th & V Streets, NW, just off U). Thursday is an RSVP-required preview (RSVP required, wine & cheese, limited attendance, et al) and Friday is a general opening for anyone and everyone.
Details here.
Bethesda Art Walk today
Today is the second Friday of the month and thus its time for the Bethesda Art Walk with 13 participating venues and with free guided tours.
My picks are Michael Janis at Neptune Gallery, Michael Fitts at Fraser Gallery and Mexican artist Gerardo Bravo Garcia at Heineman Myers.
And of course the Trawick Prize finalists at Creative Partners Gallery!
Baltimore opening
Tonight, Friday, September 14th is the opening reception for DC artist Michael Enn Sirvet's "Restructuralist Sculpture" solo show at the Touchet Gallery in Baltimore.
The reception is from 6 to 9 p.m. and the gallery is located on the corner of Fleet and S. Ann Streets in Fells Point, Baltimore.