An Introverts View, review of the Zephyr Gallery

An Introverts View

The Zephyr Gallery, located in downtown Louisville, is a small space with creaky wooden floors and a narrow wooden staircase. You can tell it was built to be a house, but the front wall is all windows now. This exhibition, The Prolonged Gaze,

includes three artists from the local area. All three are described as painters by the gallery pamphlet, which has information about each of their backgrounds. I’m pleased that the artists are all from the Kentuckiana area.

The first floor seems to be all large paintings. They’re bright and chiefly abstract, with only glimpses of reality. At first they each compete for my attention; seem loud and disruptive in the space. Some of the largest work is unframed and the paint pushes on my eyes from where it lays on the wall. The work that was framed caught the light from the front windows. I couldn’t get away from my reflection; I found myself distracting. I walked upstairs, I read the pamphlet. Vian Sora, the painter downstairs, was from Iraq, living in Louisville and self-taught, I think again about the colors and the shapes.  


Upstairs I’m halted by Tiffany Calvert’s work. It bears a strong resemblance to the still life paintings I’ve seen in museums. Her technique mixes digital imagery with traditional painting mediums in a way that disorients. The layered effect creates spaces that look like a glitch within the picture plane. This contrast offers depth for your eyes and mind to wander. Standing in front of Untitled #287, an enveloping larger than life painting, I felt the same as the first time I wore a pair of 3D glasses in the theater.

Tiffany Calvert, Untitled #287, detail, 2017, oil on digital print on canvas, 48″ x 60″

Shapes jumped off of the wall toward me and I wished for a chair so I could enjoy the vertigo. I backed away slowly and the visual play continued to shower my eyes. I vaguely recognize this painting as the same one on the cover of the pamphlet. But looking down at it again I can’t believe the two things are the same. I walked around the floors, looked up at the ceiling, bleaching my eyes.


Exhaling the Fragrance by Nhat Tran is an enticing piece of work. Originally from Vietnam, the artist uses a time consuming and labor intensive Japanese technique called Urushi lacquer. The fine detail achieved is alluring in its minuteness.

Nhat Tran, EXHALING THE FRAGRANCE, 2016, Urushi Japanese natural lacquer on wood. 24” x 30” x 4.3”

Her work has a rich natural texture combined with a shine and color treatment distinct from anything the natural world might produce. The light playing in the crevices from across the room draws me to where it’s displayed. Tran’s other work also displays the Urushi technique, combined with natural materials it glows.

Tran is the only artist in the gallery from Indiana. She is also the only one of the three women whose work on display is ‘three dimensional’ The do not touch sign glares at me, from the wall, the pedestals. I didn’t need to touch to be inspired but the sign always makes me want to. I greatly enjoyed the effects of the other artists’ work, but the placement of Nhat Tran’s work in the context of more 2D paintings brought her work to me in a special light. Made of natural material they are meant to change over time, and I would like to visit them again someday.

Jennifer Palmer Mapping Loss Art exhibition Review

Mapping Loss

For this review, I chose to talk about the exhibition at the Barr Gallery located at Indiana University Southeast. The exhibition going on right now is called Mapping Loss by Jennifer Palmer who is a multi- media artist and also works as an art teacher at the University. She used a variety of mixed media to develop the images varying from pen, ink, coffee stain, wine, charcoal, paint etc. In reading her artist statement she was clear on the points that she wanted to portray in each piece in this gallery. Through making this exhibition she wanted to create maps of thought that are about finding Zen and balance after the loss of her mother who was battling cancer. Her piece, therefore are helping her find the positive in the negative situation she’s in, and also,  in turn helping her cope with death in a healthy way. Throughout her exhibition she had multiple works from tiny pieces on different structures of paper to large pieces that were constructed with polyethylene which is hard plastic; to large paper ink pieces (refer to images1, 2, 3 and 6.). Each particular piece was different in ways varying from the time it was made, what material it was made on, and what medium was used. My favorite two artworks in this exhibition were called Woven into Time I (image 4) and Woven Into Time II (Image 5). In these two pieces, she used a thick paper and did a series of staining through ink and coffee creating abstract patterns throughout each work creating a distorted image of abstract lines and stains. They also contained a series of ink dots and pen black lines that lined around the outer edge of each stain in the two different pieces.  The calmness of these images is also displayed through the cool tones of blues and teals used along with the tans and browns of the coffee. After speaking to the artist herself I actually found out that each dot or scratch line that is shown on these or any of the other pieces in the exhibition she made whenever she was thinking about her mother or having depressed emotions because of the loss. Through this process, she was able to calm herself and slowly overcome her sadness. Another piece that I really admired in her exhibition is called Mapping above (image 1) which was created on the polythene plastic. In these piece/pieces instead of ink and stain, she used acrylic paint and had it drip down the sides of each of circle of plastic. She used a stark black background and then contrasted it with the use of warm tones of yellows and reds and cool tones of blues and greens. These particular pieces were very galaxy like to me, making me think of someone who is not in their right state of mind or just not thinking straight. his exhibition was very successful from my standpoint because; she had a very strong emotional subject matter that is very relatable, and she was able to express herself through different hand strokes of media, making a variety of map like abstract pieces. She also did a great job using a variety of materials we use every day such as coffee and red wine (images 4, 5 and 6) which helps relate back to how personal each piece was. Reflecting back most abstract pieces are very hard to give and show a storyline. Jennifer did a great job of displaying her emotions through her use of each piece but also by making the reader feel the sadness and depression she was going through. In order to achieve she had a strong artist statement to give you the history behind the series helping the viewer relate back to her time of sorrow and view when and why she developed each piece. The quality of each piece is very well done also. In order to layer inks and liquids you must let them dry out, causing a long consuming process along with the use of the ink and pen to achieve thousands of dots. Overall this exhibition was highly intriguing and successful, well thought-out and emotionally evoking. Highly recommend viewing this series and personally would like to see more of her exhibitions.

 Jennifer Palmer, Image 1, Mapping Above, September 25

 Jennifer Palmer, Image 2, September 25

Jennifer Palmer, Image 3, September 25

 Jennifer Palmer, Image 4, Woven Into Time 11, September 25

 Jennifer Palmer, Image 5, Woven Into Time 1, September 25

 Jennifer Palmer,Image 6, September 25

21c "Pop Stars!" Dakotah Gibson

Pop Stars! Exhibition Review

21c Museum Hotel Louisville is curating the exhibit “Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art” exhibit. This exhibit is about today’s consumer-based, media-dominated culture and how it is created and consumed. There were a lot of other topics addressed such as gender and race politics, veneration of fame, and identity relative to culture and media.

21c is somewhat non-traditional due to the fact that it exists primarily in a hotel lobby, which at times is a bit distracting or strange, but nonetheless this exhibit was engaging and well displayed. There was a variety of mediums ranging from video installation to 3D sculptural pieces, photography, etc. The variety in topics discussed within the umbrella of popular culture was very nice and none of the work seemed to stray too far from the overall basis of the exhibit. This exhibit was enjoyable, well curated, and relevant to modern society and culture. 

Nick Cave

Hustle Coat, 2014

Mixed media

Nick Cave is a three dimensional mixed media artist mostly known for his sound suits, but this piece was made as a commentary on trench coats and the stereotypes of a street salesman hiding things within them. He makes work such as this because he is interested in costumes or special attire and how it can have a purpose within culture. We seem to be a very visual culture at the time and it is interesting how we can look at icons and immediately understand them and that is similar to how i felt when looking at the trench coat in his piece. His message is almost immediately understood based on the preconceived idea of trench coats hiding things within. It is something we see in movies or on TV or in anti-drug ads. 

Leonce Raphael Agbodjélou (Beninian)

Untitled, from the series musclemen, 2012

Chromogenic print

There has been a lot of shift recently in how masculinity and femininity are portrayed and perceived visually. This photo contains bodybuilders from Benin dressed in decorative clothing and holding vases of flowers to represent paying homage to beauty over strength. There is a lot of change happening right now. for example the continued activism of the LGBT community as well as feminist community. There are a lot more people shifting in support of those that identify as something other than heterosexual. with this change we will also see a change in gender roles and how they are expected to look.  This work is pertinent to our current culture and the message intended was conveyed effectively.

overall this exhibit was well curated, very pertinent to our culture today, and displayed well. The work never deviated from the overall topic of the exhibit and the variety of subtopics and mediums kept the exhibit engaging and refreshing. Bringing contemporary culture and art together and showing how they coincide was also good for me as an artist, so I can see that artists are cultural provocateurs and that they have the ability to convey messages and make changes actively.
- Dakotah Gibson

Exhibition Review - Speed and Art Museum

Alex Pace

Professor Kutis

Contemporary Art

24 September 2017

Exhibition Review

            This exhibition review is over the Jim and Irene gallery- inside the Modern and Contemporary section at the Speed and Art Museum in Louisville. I chose this gallery over the others due to my interest in the works of art presented. Because of my interest in graphic design, I was able to identify elements within the works that could relate to my field of study. Within many of these works were patterns, lines, geometric shapes, and color used to create organic shapes. The artists in this section seemed to appreciate the difficulty of creating a piece of art as well as having the skill to bring interest to their pieces.  

            The first piece of art that attracted me was Ilya Bolotowksy’s Vertical Red Diamond (1976). Bolotowsky is well known for taking shapes and layering them in order to create ornate patterns and using color to bring emphasis to his central focus. He uses clean lines and bright paints to create his pieces, which is something you seen in the graphic design field. There is a white bar towards the center of the painting which draws your eyes in, but to the right side, there is a light blue bar and to the left a deep blue bar, which assist in carrying your eyes around the painting. This artist could be speaking to the clashing of America during the years this painting was created, due to the piece being created only a year after the Vietnam War had come to conclusion. This was a time when many Americans alienated the government and military, due to longing for piece. Similar works of art to this geometric painting were displayed as well, such as Frank Stella’s Chocorua II (1966).

            Frank Stella’s work attracted me as well, due to the similarity of graphic design. Related to Ilya Bolotowsky’s Vertical Red Diamond, Frank Stella’s Chocorua II has sharp lines and clean edges and relies heavily on color. When looking at the image, initially you will see two shapes only, a triangle and square. As you look closer, the image begins to unravel into multiple shapes. The goal of this artist is not to create a symbolic meaning, but to make the viewer find stability in his work. He quipped, “What you see is what you see”. His goal was for people to stop and observe out of interest, not attempt to find a deeper meaning to his work. Some of the works drew my interest due to the skill required to create them. One particular piece attracted me due to the correlation of architecture, art, and attention to detail.

            A piece by Matt Mullican displayed in this gallery by the name of Untitled (1989) greets you as soon as you enter the gallery through the main hall. This work displays great attention to detail and architectural understanding. The use of a yellow canvas and black oil slick creates better emphasis than a white canvas would, due to the balance of color and darkness. The painting appears to be of an empty factory. A similar piece to this is one of a generator room. He creates his pieces while under hypnosis. This piece attracted me due to the amount of time and skill that is required, this obvious due to the depth of field and amount of detail in the background and foreground. Mullican obviously spent a lot of time creating this multi-paneled work and was successful at creating a piece that draws all of the attention in the room.

            This exhibition displayed many interesting works of art. There were no pieces that were exactly alike, but the way the curators arranged the pieces, your interest was drawn around the room. Of all the exhibitions of contemporary art this one felt the most diverse. Some exhibitions were only photographs and others were all based around one subject. This exhibition contained three-dimensional art, painting, photographs, and mixed media. The organization of the space in the room, through the use of paintings and three-dimensional pieces, created an open environment to experience the diversity of subjects presented.

           

Desire and Art at 21c

            “Objects of Desire” is tucked away in Gallery 5 at 21C. Gallery 5 is a small room that has been converted from a garage, and in here this modestly sized exhibition collects the work of seven international artists. The show cultivated here is concerned with interrogating the social construct of physical desire.

            The works themselves are displayed as photographs in frames, on three out of four of the room’s walls. The fourth wall is a converted garage door that lets in natural light through clouded plastic- a remnant of the past uses of the building and a genuinely interesting lighting solution which adds character to the room. The arrangement of the works is unremarkable, they are displayed at roughly eye level on a white wall. Overall, after the soaring ceiling and innovative displays elsewhere in the 21C galleries, entering Gallery 5 is slightly underwhelming. This is not helped by the fact that the gallery is not clearly marked, tucked away at the back of a hallway and the door was locked at the time I arrived to view the exhibit, even though the exhibit was open and currently on display. This was a minor logistical error that was easily resolved, however I do feel bad for the artists whose works were accidentally hidden by the venue.     

Don Algodon by Rene Peña. Silver gelatin print, 2016

HeVi, Oslo by Zanele Muholi. Silver gelatin print, 2016

  

            However, the works themselves are powerful and challenging. From Muholi’s confrontational self-portrait as a dark-skinned ‘exotic beauty’, othered and fetishized by white beauty standards to Nabil’s sensual reclining portraits of young men, each piece has a unique idea related to the exhibition’s theme. Some overlap exists- both René Peña and Zanele Muholi have displayed works which examine racial biases in beauty standards- but even these works approach the theme in different ways. In “HeVi, Oslo” by Zanele Muholi, a silver gelatin print, Muholi confronts the viewer in her image with the stereotype black female bodies have been placed in, creating an image which is both desirable and engages the viewer with a piercing stare. The viewer is engaged as complicit in the othering and marginalization of Muholi and black female bodies. She also unashamedly presents a portrait unmodified to meet white standards of beauty. Her hair is not straightened, her skin is not altered to appear lighter. Even the medium of a photograph as a way of displaying black female beauty is not without import. Infamously, photography companies spent years optimizing color stocks for capturing skin using only test cards of young white female models. Muholi is part of a process of creating a space within the field of photography where black bodies can be portrayed accurately without modification. This is a very different way of approaching the subject from Peña, who comments more indirectly on race and beauty standards. His work is more about consumer culture and the status conferred on desirable bodies. In “Don Algodon”, a silver gelatin print, artist Rene Peña slyly alludes to who is considered desirable. In this photo, he poses with an advertisement on his chest. The young white woman in the ad has been chosen as the face of a Spanish clothing line. Together with Peña’s the other two pictures, where contrast calls attention to the whiteness of the objects of desire he poses with, the viewer is invited to consider the relationship our culture attaches to whiteness and desirability.

            There are many other interesting ideas in this exhibit, and despite the modest size and slightly underwhelming display, it is well worth seeing. Viewers will leave with new perspectives on issues of desirability. Overall I was very impressed, although it would have been even more powerful for me if the display had been more commanding. I would recommend this exhibit to anyone interested in the politics of desirability, photography, or contemporary international art.