Alexandria’s Target Gallery‘s In The Flesh II is a contemporary figurative art exhibition featuring artists from around the nation in the subject matter of flesh (which topically is concurrently being exhibited elsewhere in the DC area). Curated by Andrea Pollan of the Curator’s Office, 27 final works are being shown from July 22 to August 30, 2009. Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory was in attendance at last night’s reception of the works, which were found simultaneously awe-inspiring and anti-climatic.
Target Gallery is a relatively small exhibition space facing a host of exhibition challenges. Coupled with an overly warm night and a moderate crowd, Curator Andrea Pollan briefly spoke in a humble, quiet and unassuming manner. Pollan expressed the difficulty of choosing among over 830 images and offered apologies for works which could not be shown due to exhibition space size. Target Gallery Director Mary Cook continues to exemplify the pillar of grace even as she wrangles with a change of guard among interns, competing opening venues on reception night, a budget that allows for sub-standard reception fare, plus a frustratingly outdated and ineffective portable microphone system.
Pollan shared that In The Flesh is one of the largest shows she’s juried and she expressed that she went for a broad vision, seeking to nod her head at classicists, contemporary style, and new media incorporating video or internet images. While successful in it’s range, still the show lacked a certain cohesiveness of content and character. I know Target Gallery as the Alexandria’s epicenter for a national art platform. I also know it as a promising model in executing demanding exhibitions. Pivotal in its role in the community for thematic shows dealing with everything from politics to race relations to the mysterious other, this gallery collection sadly falls below the radar and range of possibilities – but is still worthwhile seeing for the lesson. Let’s take a closer look.
Tennessee’s Alison Oakes shows two works of oil on porcelain. Pink Lip Gloss and Bruise and Bra reminds one more of Umberto Eco’s “On Beauty” and “On Ugliness” than anything else – the intersection of that which attracts and that which repels. Pink Lip Gloss show us facial veining, fine line wrinkling, nose hairs and ugly skin spot aging. Bruise and Bra is an in-your-face acknowledgment of domestic violence with the hint of a shaved underarm and an inflicted bruise with it’s own star-shaped anomalies. A nod to Oakes for the use of unusual materials and a nod to Pollan for including both pieces.
New York’s Nathan Bond presents T.O. with Congolese Mask oil on linen. It is here that we see the first example of perhaps the only apparently common thread among several of the works, the thread of hands and eyes. Bond has managed fingernail treatment in the work with skill and we applaud the lips and eyes execution. Psychologically interesting in the theme of masks.
California’s Thomasin Dewhurst shares her intimate rendition of Woman Inhaling. An eerie, ethereal and nearly exotic piece, the background treatment contains a sketched wing in the upper right of the canvas. With an interesting layered background treatment, this painter (who is influenced by Bacon & Freud) brings us a nearly classic formless in form.
Colorado’s Ronnie Cramer’s watercolor Blue and Gray attracted much attention from gallery visitors. Amazingly priced at just $250, painted eyes and hands appear in an almost fused (or confused) form. Cramer’s work deserves a second and third look especially given its price point.
Missouri’s J. Brett Grill offers us charcoal on paper with Palsy. One of the most gently sketched works I’ve seen of late, the mark making almost disappears. It’s a wisp of a work and with the central character’s closed eyes, the piece borders on the deformed and the quiet. A sensitive work from Grill who creates delicate drawings of disability.
Georgia’s Jeff Markowsky also shows charcoal on paper with Mike’s Dilemma. After having read reviews of this artist, I had high hopes but personally found the execution a bit primitive and perhaps too early abandoned. One of the more successful areas is the execution of the central character’s thumbs, however they are married to simple eyes and a clownish or cartoonish (and perhaps purposefully childish) realm. Markowsky does handle an electrical cord adapter with intrique and interest.
New York’s Valerie Patterson gives us her watercolor Woman Is The Other. Suitable for a mature audience, this piece seemed to attract the attention of the over-40 crowd. A naked woman seated on a barbershop chair in a basement with a paper bag over her head, the work is only one of a couple featuring feet. A statement on women’s sexuality and struggle, the web-like hands are married to the damp, wet and cold basement and add an interesting connection to being intrinsically tied to one’s environment.
Virginia’s Teresa Oaxaco’s charcoal on paper Rafaello won honorable mention. By far one of the most masterful works, this classical male nude brought to mind Seurat’s Paris drawings. Sensitive, gentle, and alluring Rafaello’s facial expression of angelic form counteracts in the most positive way to his mature body. Just a beautiful decisive moment in the management of the eyes and hands – I found myself returning to this piece through the course of the evening and was happy to realize I had earlier that evening met the creative force behind the work.
Maryland’s Rachel Sitkin offers us graphite on paper Under Question. A captivating eye expression in this political piece where a kneeling soldier’s hands are open and searching while the prisoners’ hands are interlocked behind heads. An excellent layout, the artist has left the upper most left hand corner totally free while balancing the upper right corner with a windblown flag. I repeat, an excellent layout of composition.
Virginia’s Garth Swanson’s During the Move is on oil and canvas. During the move features two young men carrying a mirror. The position of the hands of the leftmost figure is awkward, unrealistic and inauthentic. Swanson has a “messy” painting style which creates the effect of being an after thought. I disliked the position of the watch, the confusion of the flooring, and the color and mood. It was difficult for me to align this piece with the exhibition’s theme.
New York’s Cedric Yhuel offers us an archival inkjet print Untitled #7 from the series Champs Magnetiques. Not a fan of digital works in general, my first thought was “photo surrealism” and another piece that adds to a confused collection of works. The scene depicts a New York City intersection and two twin-like figures in too-bright white shirts. It was difficult to draw the parallel between the work and the subject matter, nonetheless a psychologically fascinating concept of meeting one’s likeness or of being in two places at the same time.
Florida’s Jami Nix Rahn offers us a powerful piece 42nd Street Times Square Station that again does not seem to correspond thematically. Rahn took honorable mention for this statement of institutional power and force. An authentic depiction of New York City subway essence (particularly in the handling of the subway architecture) – the work shows heavily armed police enforcing the law and Rahn has captured scene activity very well. Sadly, the work is misplaced with no apparent relevance, this work may have been a shining star in a different collection.
Pennsylvania’s Ann Piper produced an oil on canvas work Censored. A winner of Best in Show, the painting of a half-headed, long-haired, bare-breasted woman holding a string of black paper cut dolls is a teasing and provocative work. A combination of short and long brush strokes render an extremely effective fat lower lip and facial shading. While the work has a well-intentioned layout and centered composition, the hands are a bit unruly. The hand positioning is believable, however the hand shape belies the exactness of the cutout dolls. A potentially interesting study of race and femininity – this artist is easily aligned with her work.
Tennesse’s Amy Freeman’s Nesting appears to be a work centered on domesticity. Although again difficult to place within the concept of the show theme, the work is angular, cartoonish, witchy, alchemistic, charming, and bi-polar. On the one hand Freeman has taken great detail and time in the fireplace design, and on the other, the detail seems to have been abandoned particularly in the main character’s hands. Although the central figure features a nest of birds in her hair, the viewer’s eye searches for a focal point among abandoned child’s red sneakers, flowers on the floor, and a broom.
New York’s Susan Kaprov’s archival pigment print with hand coloring on paper Larger Than Life #3, is a MUCH too-low priced, screaming, scrunching-eyed pink baby. The colorization of the skin is excellent and the emotional reaction to this anger-at-life’s-limitations piece is a bit unraveling. The work is a risk, a statement to flesh and humanity, and I believe a male. No female cries like that, right? Kaprov’s piece is a collector’s item.
Pennsylvania’s Tom Estlack offers gypsum cement poplar Billy the Test Subject. It was at this unfortunate point that I started to get aggravated. There is nothing wrong with Estlack’s construction of a gothic-headed zombie-creature and it certainly has its own audience, however I could not for the life of me make the connection to the show’s theme. A disappointment only in that regard, Estlack is not well served in this venue.
Mississippi’s Jeffrey Haupt offered an oil on panel Miss A which I, with apologies, was unable to appropriately view.
Massachusett’s Colin Asmus offers two pieces, Chatroom II oil on canvas and Proud to Be English oil on linen. The works depict spaces and people captured via public Internet webcams. The two works explore surveillance and Internet camera and video development. They are modern and contemporary and push the envelope of cross-over of digital life and art. Again, not necessarily “flesh” related.
New York’s Mare Vaccaro offers a C-print No Clowns. This self-portrait is of the artist’s hairless body in lace collar. One of the most thought provoking pieces and one of the most modern and honest, the work is gorgeous in its color and composition. An intellectual piece in subject matter that demonstrates groundbreaking studies of the female form. Evocative and experimental. One wishes they could see more.
Pennsylvania’s Jason John’s Honorable Mention oil on board painting Conversation of the Paranormal Event (see image below) is the only work in the exhibition that features African Americans. The scene is of a black father and his young daughter in a living room looking at an inflatable bird. Amazingly, John has not only accurately captured complex skin tonalities of a black man’s hands, palms, inner arms, face and eyes, but he had done so in a darkened light. The daughter however is in direct bright light and her black skin is handled joyously. This is a work which John should be very proud, I was thrilled to see it included. John’s hands and eyes along with Oaxaco’s hands and eyes are by far the most riveting in the show.
New Jersey’s Lauren Scott did an oil on canvas Pam which was not reviewed.
Illinois artist Anna Kipervaser’s Inunion oil on shaped panel is an absolute steal for any true art lover at the asking price. A jigsaw shaped oil painting in which the faces of two people are depicted life size and adorned. The work brings back to mind the paintings of Da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo. An innovative art form, the jigsaw puzzle structure gives thought to the added text of what is certainly a multifaceted story.
New York & North Carolina’s Stephanie Liner’s upholstery Momentos of Doomed Construct. There are times when an art lover sees a work (in this case, a second prize winner) where it is difficult to judge and place and the viewer’s head starts to spin. The execution may be beautifully managed (particularly for a large or difficult concept), yet the subject is just off. Liner definately has a future in furniture, dress making, upholstery and conceptual works – but is it art? And what do hands and eyes have to do with flowered upholstery? Maybe I don’t get it. In answer, we looked to those who were curiosity seeking. Liner’s work while perhaps the most note-worthy due to its size, IS a fashion piece (in all imaginations of the word). It is NOT however, a flesh piece.
