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Re:Play
September 23 October 16, 2011
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Re:Play explores the conceptual and technical breadth of contemporary video artists working with found media as source material. This way of working has been called many names—Materialfilm, Collage Film, Found Footage, Video Mashup—pointing to different considerations throughout its history, but the premise is the same today as it was when it was first practiced as a form of expression and commentary close to a century ago.
Over the last decade, technology such as media extraction and programming, and platforms like YouTube, have amplified the material available to artists making moving collages, adding to the longstanding tradition of experimental filmmaking which solidified found footage as both a self-expressive and sociopolitical genre.
Using material first seen by another eye, and crafted by another intelligence, this genre is layers upon layers of vision and meaning. Meaning is not only constructed by the act of assemblage, meaning is intrinsic to the original material and carries its original intentions with it into its new iteration. In this way, these moving collages are not just a replay—though the analogy is not without use when you consider a replay as watching and rewatching minute details of action in order to find something like certainty. At its best, the genre is also a reply (Re:). It's the continuation of a conversation that references and adds to the original message.
Nineteen local and national artists have been invited to participate in Re:Play. Their videos have been selected for the complexity of their commentary, strength of their vision, and the range of types of found media they use.
Many thanks to Lexington Art League staff and board for realizing this show through encouragement and imagination. Thanks to the following people and businesses for generously lending equipment for our use: Bullhorn, Land of Tomorrow, Robert Beatty, Valerie Fuchs, Matt Page, Dima Strakovsky, and Nick Warner.
Curated by the Lexington Film League. The Lexington Film League is a collaborative effort bringing together diverse audiences with common interest in digital media, film and digital culture. We support and promote the cinematic arts as both an art form and a civic forum in Lexington and throughout Kentucky. We believe that through these efforts we will create a community that fully embraces and supports all aspects of filmmaking.
More is More
July 22– September 11, 2011
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“Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?”
- Andy Warhol
The twentieth century German architect Mies van der Rohe was celebrated for his minimal designs and known for the idiom “less is more”. The turn of phrase has been remodeled to suggest the inverse of Mies van der Rohe’s intent and aesthetic. The result is a national juried exhibition, suitably titled More is More. Inclusive by design, MIM examines multiplicity, seriality, pattern and abundance in contemporary artistic habit throughout a range of media and technique.
We are told from a young age that in order to master a skill, one has to practice. We repeat simple behaviors in our everyday life that become routine, unconsciously familiar. Society has deeply imbedded processes established that reflect a “practice makes perfect” attitude. Assembly lines, track homes and general “sameness” is omnipresent in both a commercial and emotional sense. The American landscape, from our stores, clothes, hairstyles and restaurants, has more in common nationally, with less variety available than ever before in history. We seek a certain solace in repetition because the familiar is safe, and a “Xerox” has an expected outcome. This tendency is natural and perhaps even built into our genetic code.
The appreciation of pattern is nothing new; in ancient cave paintings man declared his presence by adorning rock walls with repeated positive and negative handprints in charcoal dust and lard. Marks, potentially creative or spiritual, occurred in many different locations, at many different times by different people. A ritual can never fully be understood, but to it we can relate in a shared humanness. After all, it is the prehistoric equivalent of “I was here”.
Andy Warhol announced that he wanted “to be a machine”, but the question remains, why? Is the pleasure we find in pattern and repetition an intrinsic part of ourselves? Or are the industrial, mechanical and technological systems we have invented responsible? Is innovation leading us or are we leading innovation? Could our desire for more be born from a survival instinct that triggers a hoarding tendency, the part of our brain that says “eat and gather whatever you can, when you can”? Or is it simply a governing part of our shared aesthetic?
Within all the featured multiplicity in More is More, themes begin to arise: repeated image evolves into repeated mark; Literal twins turn into echos and doppelgangers; copies become less perfect, now a Xerox of a Xerox of a Xerox; cities grow up and out, in a race with population; objects breed and bloom into colossal scale; and, pattern is now only one interpretation of many, simultaneously optimistic and apocalyptic…
Thanks:
More is More would not have been possible in this capacity without the efforts of Becky Alley, the Lexington Art League staff, interns and supporters. Additionally, I would like to extend appreciation to my students at Eastern Kentucky University for their assistance with installation, specifically Laura Longoria, Sharon Ramsey, Daniel Monday, Alex Narramore, Amy Pohle, Jason Fee and Ryan Bowles. I would also like to thank Sodium Halogen Design and Shane Aday for their generous help with the design of the exhibition catalog. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I would like to express my gratitude to the artists in More Is More and all those that applied to the exhibition. The jury process was as rewarding as it was challenging and I have gained more insight on this topic because of all those that applied and participated, thank you.
- Juried by Mellisa Vandenberg (Assistant Professor of Art and Director of Foundations at Eastern Kentucky University)
Love and Things Like Love
May 27– July 10, 2011
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Love is a universal topic. In curating Love and Things Like Love I wanted to capture something both fundamental and powerful to the human experience. Though it is impossible to define, love has endured as one of the most popular themes in creative expression, proving its timeless relevance.
The scope of the work in the show is very broad, and a number of threads have emerged. Themes of loss, ephemera, longing, intimacy, disconnect, unconditional love, comfort, turmoil, dissatisfaction, seduction, desire, nostalgia, and regret are all woven throughout the show. While I personally understand love to be quite complex, I am struck by the richness and depth expressed in the artwork. Gestures of humor and whimsy intersect with poignant and painful anecdotes of love. The artists featured in this show unabashedly share their vulnerabilities through the work, ultimately offering viewers the opportunity to connect with something deeply personal.
The selection process for this exhibition was both invitational and juried. Knowing that a love themed show might be met with some skepticism, I invited a handful of artists to participate early as a way to ground the project in a thoughtful, sincere, and contemporary way, and to provide an initial structure from which to build the remainder of the exhibition. After the call was released to the public, nearly 1200 works were submitted for consideration. I ultimately narrowed down the selection to sixty-seven pieces.
Art has the power to do many things, and one of them is allowing us to find meaning in our lives. By exploring a topic such as love, I aim to touch upon something emotional and genuine for all who see it. While the topic of love has the potential to be trite and overly sentimental, many artists working today are addressing love with insight and fearless honesty. I believe this show has the power to affect people at their core, and I hope that viewers allow themselves to be stirred by what they see.
- Curated by Becky Alley (LAL Exhibitions & Programs Director)
Crossings \ Travesías
March 25 – May 15, 2011
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ENGLISH: Crossings | Travesíasis a nation-wide artistic response to the multiple topics and issues surrounding immigration, migration and identity politics within the Latino/Latina community. Artists from Illinois, Missouri, Texas and Florida have joined Kentucky artists to examine these topics and to create artwork that addresses these complex themes. Believing in the power of art to provoke dialogue, the artists and arts-activists in this exhibit tackle some controversial and often polarizing concerns, such as SRS 222, the DREAM Act as well as broader topics concerning immigration reform legislation. Other artists investigate or describe a more personal or metaphorical journey. All of these “stories” are expressed through a diversity of artistic approach, philosophy and medium, as well as reflects diversity in ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
When we began talking about the necessity to organize an exhibition, we realized that we needed to invite artists from areas of the country that have a long history of art activism in the Latino/a community to help us give "voice" to the growing immigrant population. We are honored that these artists agreed to share their experiences and history. In choosing artists and artwork for the exhibition, we wanted to express the expansiveness of the immigrant and immigration experience, and tell it from many points of view. Some of the work is deeply autobiographical, while other work is from a position of advocacy. Many of the pieces in the exhibition speak more of the process of adapting to new cultural environments or of expressing ethnic pride.
The process of bringing together this group of artists to create Crossings | Travesias has been an exciting an gratifying experience. We are deeply grateful to the staff at the Lexington Art League for giving us this opportunity. Our hope is that through this exhibition, many viewers will walk away with a deeper understanding of many of the themes expressed by the exhibiting artists.
SPANISH: Cruces | Travesías es una respuesta artística nacional sobre los múltiples temas y cuestiones de política de inmigración, migración e identidad circundante dentro de la comunidad Latina. Artistas de Illinois, Missouri, Texas y la Florida han sumado a los artistas de Kentucky para examinar estos temas y crear obras de arte que aborda estos temas complejos. Creer en el poder del arte para provocar el diálogo, los artistas y activistas de Artes en esta exposición abordar algunas preocupaciones controvertidos y a menudo polarizante, como SRS 222, el DREAM Act, así como temas más amplios sobre legislación de reforma de inmigración. Otros investigaciones artistas describen un viaje más personal o metafórico. Todas estas "historias" se expresan a través de una diversidad de enfoque artístico, filosofía y medio, así como refleja la diversidad de antecedentes étnicos y culturales.
Cuando comenzamos a hablar sobre la necesidad de organizar una exposición, nos dimos cuenta de que necesitábamos invitar a artistas de zonas del país que tienen una larga historia de activismo de arte en la comunidad Latina para que nos ayudaran a dar "voz" a la creciente población inmigrante. Nos sentimos honrados de que estos artistas decidieron compartir sus experiencias y la historia. En la elección de artistas y obras de arte para la exposición, hemos querido expresar la expansividad de la experiencia de inmigrantes y la inmigración y decirlo desde muchos puntos de vista. Algunos de los trabajos son profundamente autobiográfico, mientras que otros trabajos son desde una posición de defensa. Muchas de las piezas en la exposición hablan más del proceso de adaptación a nuevos entornos culturales o de expresar orgullo étnico.
El proceso de reunir a este grupo de artistas para crear Cruces | Travesías ha sido una experiencia gratificante y emocionante. Estamos profundamente agradecidos a los trabajadores de la Liga de Arte de Lexington por darnos esta oportunidad. Nuestra esperanza es que a través de esta exposición, muchos espectadores se lleven una comprensión más profunda de muchos de los temas expresados por la exposición artística.
- Curated by Andres Cruz, Diane Kahlo and Marta Miranda
QX.net Nude
January 15 - March 13, 2011
The experience of jurying the submissions to the QX.net Nude exhibition was a fascinating professional experience. There were a vast number of excellent and diverse entries that we had the pleasure of reviewing. The artists who submitted their works not only come from across the country and use many different media and techniques, but they also each approach their art and the exhibition from distinct perspectives. We appreciated the opportunity to spend time viewing and discussing each of these artworks and the accompanying statements from the artists. In addition, the jurying process itself is a beneficial and interesting one. Our conversations about the exhibition, the process and mostly the individual artworks that were submitted enabled the two of us, a painter and a curator, to glimpse this fascinating subject through someone else’s eyes. We each gained a new perspective on the artworks that made our review more meaningful.
As a reflection of our different backgrounds, our dialogue about the submissions centered on two areas. One primary area of focus was the formal qualities of line, color and imagery that are most dominant in the 2011 Nude Exhibition. That was balanced by conversation about the content of the artworks and the diverse approaches of the artists to the subject matter, ranging from celebrations of the beauty of the human body to commentary on contemporary culture.
Of the formal components, line is approached very aggressively to suggest movement, as depicted in the work of Christine Wuenschel entitled, Mountain 1. The figures are created by line, value and mark making that is powerful and successful. The figures are grouped together and intertwined in an intriguing entanglement evoking the feeling of a human mountain. Also in Kirsti Anderssen’s drawing, Locomotion, the line variation has a very aesthetically pleasing quality. Cross-hatching is juxtaposed with fluid lines, which meander over and around the forms to create solid figures. The tonal marks give the impression of a sculptural relief. The flat and volumetric areas push the viewers eye back and forth as they vie for the viewers attention.
The next formal component, color, is applied effectively creating animation and energy. This happens in Mark Webster’s painting, Felicia. The bright flat colors in Webster’s painting animate the figure, bringing it to life. Also in Dan Wills’ photograph, Living Room, the use of color heightens the impact of the scene. The color brings movement, unity and a balance to the composition. Wills’ photo is set off by the colors red, brown and yellow, but the red tweaks the intensity of the scene, complimenting the emotional tragedy of the scene.
The final formal component is pictorial imagery. In Jason Watson’s Imperial Bedroom the viewer is drawn in by a shape reminiscent of a picturesque 18th century antique mantel clock that seems to depict the head of a figure, possibly suggesting time, which the artist also references in his statement. The earthy torso seems to symbolize earthly creations and the flowers and Chippendale chairs transport you mentally to a different period in time. The aforementioned not only draw you in but move the viewer to think deeply about the meaning of the content. The contrast in all the areas mentioned work well together and make for a harmonious balanced composition with strong pictorial imagery.
This discussion of composition and imagery leads us back to our accompanying dialogue about content and the individual artists’ approaches to the subject matter of the nude. In Watson’s case, his nudes begin in life drawing sessions, but he pushes them to have a life of their own, working with them over months to add and subtract elements creating the possibility of a narrative. Cyndy Baran’s drawing, Surrender, explores universal emotions and expresses the vulnerability and courage that coexist within each of us. While, in his artwork, Genesis 3:7, Jason Driskill explores his personal feelings about his self-image and the reconciliation of his sexuality with his religious beliefs. On the other hand, Danny Warner’s motion animation, Aphasia Mechanica, offers a scientific, even mechanical view of the human body. This same theme is present in JC Norton’s Homage to Andre and Joel through his focus on bodybuilders’ manipulations of their bodies, an idea that is exaggerated in his image through his cropping of the body that lengthens the appearance of the model’s limbs. Don Luper’s Over There? presents another optical illusion and plays with our perception. Yet, other artists, such as Dana M. Davis, Dave Levingston and Dobree Adams explore the body as architecture or landscape.
Another theme we identified in the artworks was the influence of the Internet and social media that permeates our lives and through which many people today frame their identities. For example, Andrew Rauhauser’s Enid’s Self Portrait is based on photographs taken by the artist’s wife of herself in a pose that the artist points out is prevalent on social media websites. He cleverly arranges the images to mimic a photo booth image, a common predecessor to digital cameras for self-portraits. To create his installation Scolophilia, Greg Mettler placed an ad on Craigslist and photographed anyone who responded willingly. Referencing this as “collecting,” Mettler brings to mind the accumulation of online “friends.” However, his interaction with them was far more physically intimate, an experience he also passes along to the viewer by presenting the resulting images in a human scale. The artist team of Michael Filimowicz, Andres Wanner and Melanie Cassidy take this to another level and reverse control of both the interaction and the aesthetics of the artwork in their Internet-based artwork, Cursor Caressor Eraser, in which viewers actually manipulate layered digital photographs by moving their mouse across a computer screen, simulating a caress on the bare skin that is shown in the images.
All of the works mentioned are indicative of the strengths in the entire body of works in the exhibition. Viewing them all together in the galleries will add the final dimension to this exhibition as the artworks take on new lives in the dialogue they have with each other. As viewers contemplate the individual artworks and compare them to each other, new ideas will arise in the conversations that are sparked and hopefully this selection will inspire other artists to challenge themselves and reach new creative heights.
- Juried by Karen Gillenwater (Curator at the Carnegie Center for Art & History in New Albany, Indiana) and Mark Priest (Artist and Associate Professor of Painting at the
University of Louisville)
KY. 7 Biennial
September 11 - October 23, 2010
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KY.7 Biennial, in its second installment, is more than just a survey of meaningful contemporary art. It is a stage to showcase and celebrate our region’s most forward-thinking artists. In the service of these artists and contemporary art, the selection goals were to choose artwork that is innovative in production and concept, culturally relevant, and addresses important political and social issues. Generating over 800 entries from Kentucky and its seven contiguous states (Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia), this survey resulted in a dynamic exhibition of 55 pieces by 36 artists representing a wide-range of media from painting, to video, to installation.
With an open call such as KY.7 Biennial, having only a geographical region as limitation, the scale of diversity spreads to its widest possible, providing a pool of works which may either be an overwhelming visual cacophony full of chaos, or a rich soup of creative biodiversity from which to build a perfect symphony.
What is most intriguing with such broad collections of art is the coincidental, yet subtle, unity which occurs once the works are shown together, creating a fresh new context for each piece within the gallery space. Amongst the symphony is slight dissonance, which invites genuine dialogue about differing worldviews using a visual dialogue in which only art can provide. In fact, debate and disruption is perhaps the main curatorial aim of this exhibition.
As KY.7 Biennial grows, we look forward to the discussions surrounding art’s trends, the threads that run through and connect contemporary art, and what is means to be an artist working in our region.
- Juried by John Begley (Gallery Director and Coordinator of Critical and Curatorial Studies at the Hite Art Institute), Jason Franz (Executive Director and Chief Curator at Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center) and Becky Alley (LAL Exhibitions and Programs Director)
Creatures Great and Small
July 10 - August 28, 2010
Since human beings have been creating images and objects, animals- both real and fantastic- have endured as compelling subject matter. Throughout history and across cultures, animals have been imbued with rich symbolic meaning, often as archetypal characters in tales and legends reflecting a deep fundamental connection between humans and animals.
A large number of artists today are using animal imagery to talk about difficult issues such as intimacy, loss, and vulnerability. The desire to capture the spirit of animals, and express it as a means to better understand and describe our world, is timeless. In many ways animals are effective stand-ins for ourselves, allowing artists to discuss challenging concepts with a power and intensity unattainable through the human form. As a whole this exhibition effectively inspires questions regarding life and death, morality, and meaning with humor, whimsy, sensitivity, and insight.
- Becky Alley, Curator of Creatures Great and Small
Passing: Fashioning Drag and Alternate Selves
April 23 - June 26, 2010
Passing began in the spring of 2008 when the Kentucky Oral History Commission funded twenty oral history interviews (a second grant received a year later supported seven more interviews) intended to record stories from and document the lives of Lexington’s drag queens and kings. We started taking photographs a few months later to create more layered representations of the performers who became part of our project. We have photographed them on and off stage as they sew outfits, apply makeup, and prepare to perform. We have visited them in their homes, joined them at fundraising events, and followed their performances in six local bars. Throughout this process we have also been writing short vignettes inspired both by the stories we heard during the interviews and by the individual performers we watched on stage. Now in its third year, Passing has become an ongoing tribute to Lexington’s queens and kings that also aims to remove some of the social barriers surrounding the gay community in Kentucky.
- Kremena Todorova and Kurt Gohde
Alternate Selves
April 23 - June 26, 2010
Alternate Selves features the work of 33 artists making thought-provoking and insightful art referencing costumes, props, adornment, masks, or disguise. Each artist in some way explores how these external elements can reveal or conceal qualities in the person wearing them. Through actual objects that can be worn, Meg Robert's interactive sculpture Filter, and various representations of costumes, such as Sean Lyman's drawings Sunday and Weight or John Borstel's photographs in Closet Opera, the works on display explore a variety of issues including history, sexuality, memory, gender roles, cultural identity, and human interaction. In selecting pieces for the exhibition, the committee was particularly interested in work that offered a personal connection to the subject matter and allowed the opportunity for viewers to examine personal identity in a new way.
The work for Alternate Selves was selected from 295 entries from artists across the US and abroad. The selection committee was Andrea Fisher, Director of Morlan Gallery; Kate Sprengnether, Director of the Tuska Center for Contemporary Art; and Becky Alley, Exhibitions & Programs Director at LAL.
QX.net Nude 2010
January 16 - March 27, 2010
Make no snap judgments, nor take it for granted. The nude may have been with us for a long long time, but it is as ever-changing as it is persistent. It is as it has always been, a continuum: an extension to various ends, to its own or an extension to no end at all.
As 2009 came to pass, therein lies the need to somehow set the decade in review. We did indeed, by trusting the artists themselves, hope to survey some of the tendencies emerging over the last few years. We were also aware, if made overly comprehensive, the viewer would fail to appreciate the richness of possibilities that almost all of these tendencies are yet to inspire. So without assuming a mainstream, there is a scattering of multiple viewpoints, offering their own subcultures as context, which overlap, influence or contradict each other in various and in just as exciting ways. In fact, the Loudoun’s interior is probably the most ideal space for entering a dialogue of this kind. One can handle a diversity of experiences and still feel at home. There are intimate corners and gathering halls, dark stairwells and bright window rooms, and other areas for both self-reflection and discussion. Perhaps as the nude itself, it is living and breathing space, where the hardwood floor creaks as you step along. Even if only for our clarification, therefore, we suggested phrasing this exhibition room by room or foyer by foyer, with each space becoming a pulse point entering the dialogue with the other and informing the next.
The QX.net Nude is one of the most important on-going annuals in our midst. For which, we are indebted to all the artists, their receptive audience, the Lexington Art League and many others who made this wonderful tradition into the enthusiastically anticipated art celebration.
- Boris Zakic
The wealth of exciting work submitted to this exhibition was a challenge and an inspiration. I came to the task with one set of preconditions: to look for art that demonstrated an understanding of the figure. When the title of the exhibition is The Nude, there is an implicit assumption that the work entered must, to some degree, involve human anatomy and movement. An image containing a figure without these may be an excellent work of art; there are other shows for that piece. This exhibition is for artists who have a demonstrated understanding of the figure. Within these limitations, we had entrants who were able to take that training and make the figure expressive, challenging, provocative, visionary.
At the suggestion of my co-juror, Boris Zakic, we eventually came to the organization of the individual categories that you see in the exhibition, there by allowing us to process and address the wide variety of approaches submitted.
What I found particularly gratifying about our selections is that we were able to subvert the common notions of the nude as being an academic subject or one with sexual overtones…. which of course it can be and often is…but that is hardly the whole picture. The art in this exhibition reflect what it means to be human. We are who we are because of our bodies…we experience the world through them. Our bodies are ourselves. The selections in this show depict the figure in all of its complexities…the humor, the passion, the myth, the vulnerability, as well as the grace and beauty.
- Esther E. Randall
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Generously Odd: Craft Now
October 23 – December 22, 2009
Exhibition Statement
Generously Odd: Craft Now explores the uniquely rich territory currently being examined by today’s avant-garde craft artists. The exhibition focuses on contemporary craft objects that engagingly experiment with material, form and concept, with a particular emphasis on works that explore abundant decoration, obsessive techniques, and peculiar narratives.
Craft, as a field of creative inquiry, is typically characterized by handmade, utilitarian forms, created in specific materials (clay, metal, fiber, wood, glass) with a long world history and deep cultural connection. Traditional methods of construction and accepted object formats likewise typically define craft. But while the artworks represented in Generously Odd may have some familiarity to our everyday lives, they are not typical. Rather than strictly adhering to traditional approaches, contemporary craft artists, these artists in particular, manipulate materials and processes, as well as ideas related to function and body adornment to skillfully craft their own innovative, often challenging, works.
All of the artists included in this exhibition have, very generously, poured their knowledge and the best of their unique creative abilities into their works. And six site-specific arrangements, including several with wall-drawn narratives, were created in response to the ornamented fireplaces, windows, and shelves of the Loudoun House itself. The resulting exhibition, flowing from one gallery to the next with unexpected visual and conceptual connections, is a collection of awkwardly interesting bodies, ambiguous biomorphic blobs, strangely beautiful adornments that transform the wearer, meticulous objects that defy utilitarian expectations, and subversively nostalgic things loaded with metaphor and memory.
- Travis Townsend, Exhibition Curator
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LAL Open
July 18 – August 29, 2009
Exhibition Statement
For this group exhibition LAL opened its doors to all who make art in order to encourage a dialogue between artists and the general public. There were no parameters, theme, or limit regarding concept or execution for the artists to consider. Artists were challenged to submit work that was important or meaningful to them, work that they wanted to represent them, as artists.
As a result the LAL Open presents a platform where people can share thoughts, feelings, and opinions through visual art mediums. Like all LAL exhibitions, this show is a conversation between artist and viewer. As a collection of art chosen by the artists themselves, the LAL Open allows the public to view, through the eyes of the artist, what is on their minds.
New York Times art critic Holland Cotter recently asked a valid set of questions, “How does cultural history get written? Who chooses which portraits will hang in the hall of fame, which art will live on in museums, which books will end up on the classics shelf, which music will be standard fare in tomorrow’s concert halls?” With this in mind, the LAL Open seeks to give these 110 participating artists a chance to weigh in on the conversation.
How Artists See Their World
May 9 - June 27, 2009
Exhibition Statement
How Artists See Their World is an exhibition of Outsider Art, gathered over the past 40 years, by dealer and collector Daniel C. Prince. This grouping of artists with developmental disabilities and diagnosed mental conditions represents a different world of art than that which is conventionally promoted or displayed. Emotional, vibrant, colorful, and direct – the work they have created is based on their reality.
The artists whose work is presented in this exhibition take full advantage of their vision and senses. They do not use filters, conventional art education or learned techniques to make their point. This method of art-making demonstrates how Outsider artists tap their intuition, unconscious, sense of discovery, and creativity at its most primal level, allowing us a clue to the actual mental locations of artistic conception. The initial inspiration for these artists comes from their own experience, completely bypassing a formal process of analysis - they don’t over think the work.
Some categories in the exhibition include: Portraiture (Hallway), the Figure (2nd Floor), Landscape (Miriam Woolfolk Gallery), Architecture (Lillian Boyer Gallery), Narrative (Neil Sulier Gallery), and Things (Zygmunt Gierlach Gallery).
About the Daniel C. Prince Collection
The Daniel C. Prince Collection began in 1969 when Mr. Prince started his freshman year at Vanderbilt University. For the past 40 years Prince has curated and written extensively on the subject of Outsider Art (his most notable book is Passing In The Outsider Lane). Other material included in Prince’s nonprofit Self Taught Artist Resources (S.T.A.R.), is in Special Collections, Central Library at Vanderbilt University.
What is Outsider Art?
The term Outsider Art refers to the English translation of French artist Jean DeBuffet’s “Art Brut.” This genre it is not based on subject, style, or technique, but rather on the artists who are typically children or developmentally disabled or mentally challenged adults. To this extent, they do not take their cues from formal training or the customs of the art world. Sidney Janis wrote about this type of work in his book They Taught Themselves (1948), which led to the umbrella term of Self Taught (Outsider artists are by definition not formally trained). Others included in the definition of “self taught” is the work of artists taking their cues from social tradition, communal history, and ethnic practice such as Folk Art.
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Paintpresent
March 14 - April 26, 2009
Juror Statement
First, I would like to thank LAL for providing me with this opportunity. It was a rewarding and enriching process to discuss contemporary painting with staff at LAL, and it was perhaps more interesting still to see the emergence and evolution of those ideas in the works submitted. I am grateful for the chance to engage the Lexington community in a discussion of contemporary art, including its unusual manifestations and exciting creations.
If there is one defining element of contemporary art, it is that there is no one defining element. Contemporary creative activity is as marked by a plurality of motivations and manifestations as is the world in which it is made. As culture fragments and history accelerates, art brings in an ever-widening group of creators with diverse desires. The mode in which one’s creative work can be engaged by an audience likewise grows ever more varied. Artists can utilize contemporary galleries, such as the Loudoun House, and museums to exhibit their work, but artists are increasingly combining that activity with work that is distributed via the Internet or even in commercial venues that would have been shunned a generation ago. Each of these works and audiences is brought together by the artist’s creative vision.
With that context as a backdrop, we identified three threads that may mark an image as responding particularly to our current moment.
First, creative work now is frequently quite dense, even decorative. The arrival of hyper-density in contemporary painting could be seen as a response to a hyper-stimulating contemporary world filled with icons and diminutive data points that constantly vie for our attention. In a world of cell phone-controlled and Facebook©-facilitated interaction, is it any wonder that contemporary creative work overflows with small, precise forms?
Secondly, empty manmade spaces form a contrasting pole to hyper-decoration. Contemporary painters seem to be drawn to architectural spaces devoid of their creators. In this way, a house or building is rendered not only as information, as a schematic but also as an abstraction of psychological states. If a room doesn’t hold other subjects, perhaps it holds our moods. As the images are freed from people or subjects, our own subjectivity rushes into the space itself to contemplate ourselves.
Lastly, figuration has returned to painting in a strong and considerable fashion, but the figures are often strange detours from ordinary representation. We are surrounded by ourselves as celebrities. We are inundated with people who are, in reality, ordinary, but by virtue of mass media, rendered as extraordinary. These ur-people emerge in contemporary painting as superheroes, demigods and cryptozoological oddities.
There were a great many excellent works submitted to the show (some 700 paintings from around 100 artists). We could have had three to four shows of work from the submissions and continued with each exhibition to discover new points of interest and excitement. So, narrowing the works down to 50 selections was immensely difficult.
I leave you with an invitation to linger over the works in the exhibition. My selections and comments are only the beginning of what the artists on display offer. These humble thoughts only start a conversation, which each work here ably extends in unexpected, enriching and intoxicating directions. I thank LAL and the participating artists for allowing me to join the fun.
Bobby Campbell studied art at Transylvania University, where he completed a BA in Philosophy in 1998. Following five years of professional practice as a graphic designer, he entered graduate school at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design. Upon completing his MFA in 2006, Bobby was awarded a Fulbright Student Scholar Grant to study for the 2006-2007 academic year at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin, Ireland. He is in his second year of teaching as an Assistant Professor in the Art Department at Morehead State University where he teaches digital art, painting, graphic design and drawing. Bobby has exhibited art in diverse locations including Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Beijing and Dublin.
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Nude 2009
January 9 - March 1, 2009
Exhibition Statement
The human figure in art is timeless and universal and has reverberated throughout historical and contemporary art practice. Some contemporary artists have refocused our gaze on personal identity as a viable and engaging conduit for explorations of modern life, modern identity, and the social and sexual politics that impact us all. Other artists use the human figure as a way of looking inward and showing pure beauty, or in the words of artist Courtnee Bennett, “worthy of respect and laden with meaning.”
From Edward Kennedy’s Pecs and Abs of Steel and Lawrence Tarpey’s She was the Point of Contention to Dhiman Dam’s Luv and Marlene Steele’s Rest at the Bench one can see a variety of treatments of this classical subject. New materials have come in to play, like the knitted work of Matthew C. Glover in Jamie, Standing and digital manipulation in Carleton Wing’s Shower. The purpose of this exhibitionis to showcase a range of interpretations of the human form.
Artists confronting social politics and history within their works are E. Gibbons, whose painting Witness, according to the artist, “[addresses the ninety year old model Blanche’s] youth and her friends who died in the holocaust.” While Blake, whose sculpture Rockeye CBU is named after landmines found in “post conflict” regions like Vietnam and Kosovo.
Faith Holland’s Untitled photograph from her “Voyeurism Series” gives one a sense of exposure and vulnerability. While Esther Randall’s surreal assemblage Harpy portrays the human figure as awkward, mechanized or disassembled. Others, such as David Hancock, Michael Seif, and Helen Rose Gotlib, study the nude form because they view it as the pinnacle of artistic beauty.
Exploration of identity is also presented frequently, as in Tyler Dearing’s My Better Half (parts 1 and 2) and Christine Wuenschel’s Self-Portrait: Slight Inclusion No.’s 1 and 2 and Untitled Self-Portrait No. 12. These artists ask today, as so many have asked before: Who am I and what defines me?
For Nude 2009, Ruth Adams, Associate Professor of Photography and Digital Art at the University of Kentucky, Mike Deetsch, Exhibitions and Programs Director, Lexington Art League, and Robert Morgan, Lexington artist and gallery owner, anonymously juried all entries and selected the 64 artworks on exhibit.
Click here to view the Nude 2009 Walk-thru notes
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KY7 Biennial
October 18 - December 21, 2008
View KY7 Biennial Online Gallery
Statement
Welcome to the premier exhibition of KY7, a regional survey of contemporary art produced in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and its seven contiguous states: Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. In January 2008 LAL made a call to artists to submit work to KY7; through a three-month process, the curators carefully selected 33 artists from seven states and a total of144 portfolios. The result is a dynamic exhibition of 44 pieces representing a wide-range of media from painting, to video, to installation.
KY7 is more than just a survey of meaningful art. It is a vehicle to promote our region’s most forward-thinking artists. In the service of those artists and contemporary art, the selection goals were to choose artwork that is innovative in production and concept, culturally relative, and addresses important political and social issues. It is our hope that KY7 will grow to be an important exhibition where artists from Kentucky and the mid-Atlantic/Midwest/Southern regions will be recognized with increasing critical interest. As KY7 grows, we look forward to the conversations and debate about trends and answers to the question of what it means to be an artist from this region.
Art critic and author David Hickey recently stated in a 2007 interview, “I am not in favor of art—I’m in favor of the art I like.” 1 With similar candor, we, as curators, recognize that this biennial ultimately is a selection of our own biases. Recognizing the fallibility of this process, we invite the audience to “express their ideas by participating in the collective production of meaning”.2 Moreover, we invite you put your human faith in artistic magic and believe, just as we do, that art matters, today more than ever.
Mike Deetsch, Exhibitions and Programs Director at LAL
Andrea Fisher, Director of the Morlan Gallery at Transylvania University
Kate Sprengnether, Director of the Tuska Center for Contemporary Art
1 Heti, Sheila. “An interview with David Hickey,” The Believer. November/December 2007: 11.Timothy McSweeney’s.
http://www.believermag.com/issues/200711/?read=interview_hickey
2 Brenson, Micheal. “The Curator’s Moment.” Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985. Ed. by Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 2005
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Member's Open: Election
July 12 - August 24, 2008
Statement
As of July 2007 over 220 million citizens are eligible to vote in the coming election and 3 million of those reside in Kentucky.(1) That is why this year’s Member’s Open, Election, addresses the social, political, and personal issues that are coming to the forefront with the November presidential election. With this exhibition, LAL artists present unique and personal ways of thinking about these concerns that will affect us all.
The artwork throughout the galleries incorporate ideas both subtly and overtly, that in some way, relate to what the presidential candidates are debating. According to a poll conducted in March, 2008 by CNN/Opinion Research Corp. the following issues were most important to voters in this coming election, Economy: 42%, War in Iraq: 21%, Health care: 18%, Terrorism: 10%, Illegal immigration: 7%.(2) These topics, and more, are reflected in the works on exhibit. Erica Meuser’s monotypes, both titled 9/11/07, address the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the state America has been put in by both. For a more satirical look, Kenn Minter’s Future pokes fun at our country’s potential response to global warming, civil unions, and terrorism. Lee Ann Paynter’s polyptych, made of five black and white photographs, documents what she believes is the struggle between church and state.
With this exhibition, artists have presented a unique way to think about the importance of our right to vote in an election and how, as individuals, we will be impacted by what politicians do, or don’t do, on a personal level. Thirty artists entered the sixty-five artworks in Election, highlighting how art can be a central means of communicating thoughts, ideas and concerns related to the topical issues we face as an American people.
(1) US Census Bureau. 29 May 2008. <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html>.
(2) CNN.com. Cable News Network, LP. LLLP. A Time Warner Company. 29 May 2008. <http://www.cnn.com>.
Download Election Walk-Thru Notes
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Wall-to-Wall Online Gallery
May 10 - June 29, 2008
Curator: Mike Deetsch
Statement
Drawing is continuously being reinterpreted as an ever-important form of art and communication. From early childhood scribbles to notebook doodles, it has helped to present ideas that cannot otherwise be conveyed verbally. Wall-to-Wall, an exhibition of large-scale works, challenges the traditional use, scope, definition, and interpretation of drawing as a medium. The exhibition explores the process of mark-making and use of material – both in conventional and unconventional ways – to demonstrate that contemporary drawing “is no longer limited to the preparatory sketch or to pencil on paper.” (1) Instead, wall installations, drawings as sculpture, interactive pictures, and works on paper highlight the varying uses, strategies, and processes of contemporary drawing and draftsmanship. The monumental size emphasizes the over-all impact of marks as a whole, and at the same time, commands the viewer’s attention to the details, requiring one to take many approaches to the work.
Looking through the exhibition, one will notice an intermingling of themes and subject matter that weave in and out of the gallery spaces: works that are interactive, those that examine the intuitive and subconscious, and others that present mark-making as a form of mapping. These topics are by no means exhaustive in the realm of drawing nor are they meant to be presented as such. As Laura Hoptman writes, “…a form of drawing has arisen that…is attached less to process than finished product, that describes a specific object or state of mind, that maps a specific experience, [or] that tells a particular story.” (2)
In Jelena Berenc’s Body Drawing the audience is asked to actively engage in the artwork, inviting viewers to look through the individual sheets of paper and see the parts of her body that she has chosen to reveal. Likewise, Nate Sensel’s Ellipses layers are removed by the viewer in order to reveal the works underneath. In both instances the drawings are shaped and transformed with the assistance of the audience, allowing them to shape and intimately view the works.
Others like Kathryn Jill Johnson and Phillip March Jones explore the subconscious in a surrealistic, intuitive, and overwhelmingly formalist approach. Johnson, in Block Party, juxtaposes images that do not relate to each other, nor would they be found together in reality, in order to see how the characters interact. Jones on the other hand is exploring his inner self and revealing his hidden truths.
Many of the artist’s use drawing as a means of recording time, thought, and space. As Franz Ackerman states “…mental maps are two-dimensional equivalents of…thought processes rather than transcriptions of what…[one] sees or experiences…” (3) Mental maps are clearly the subject of artists like Colin Keefe and Michelle Dussault. These works range from the surreal, as in Keefe’s Isometric City Drawing to the physical in Dussault’s Hippo Camp. However, neither map is an accurate physical portrayal.
While the exhibition showcases works that at first glance may not seem to be drawings, it demonstrates the use of drawing as a foundation for broader reaching work. This exhibition presents twenty-five drawings, created by sixteen artists, which include installations, sculptures, and large scale works on paper. In organizing Wall-to-Wall, LAL sought to challenge perceptions of the medium and present drawing as an autonomous form of art making.
(1) Dexter, Emma. Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing. London: Phaidon Press, 2005
(2) Hoptman, Laura. Drawing Now: Eight Propositions. Exh. cat. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2002
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Response to Fear
March 15 - April 27, 2008
Curators: Kate Sprengnether & Michael Goodlett
Curator's Statement
We live in a society that is fascinated with fear. A perfect storm of events has served to create a fearful, anxiety-ridden culture—from constant media reminders of possible threats, to a new kind of social interaction based on confessions of shared anxieties. Response to Fear addresses the commonality of fear and explores the differing ways that artists work through and deal with their fears and anxieties. The artwork in the exhibit reflects several different themes: artwork that is made as a response to the artist’s own fears and anxieties because the art-making process itself is therapeutic and provides relief; artwork that literally or figuratively protects the artist or the viewer from a specific threat; and artwork that comments on the role that fear plays in our culture.
In forming this exhibit, it was important to us that the artwork reflect the positive and constructive ways that artists respond to fear. We chose work that provides a more sophisticated and layered response than work that is made out of anger or work that is made to frighten the viewer.
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QX.net Nude International 2008
January 11 - February 24, 2008
Juror: Jay Gorney
For over twenty years the Nude exhibit has been presented by the Lexington Art League. As in the past, the LAL continues to examine the body as an inextricable part of the human experience through the perspective of visual artists. From the classic to the controversial, artists continue to redefine this subject through choice of materials, style and concept. The purpose of the QX.net Nude International 2008 is to showcase a range of interpretations of this vessel that contains us, including works that challenge the traditional execution of figurative art such as Helene Steene’s Yellow Diver or present issues related to the body, as in Mare Vaccaro’s Dreaming.
Our familiarity with the human body begets the challenge to the artist—transforming that which is known and perhaps private, into an expression of thought and idea for everyone to see. As juror Jay Gorney wrote, “…my selections tend to favor those artists…who attempt to breathe new life or explore new ways of working within [a particular] medium…[while looking for a] unique point of view, and for the emergence of a distinctive artistic voice.” Within the exhibition, idealized beauty exists alongside exaggerated blemishes, while humor co-exists with pain.
As evidenced in Mr. Gorney’s statement, the work in the exhibition is a myriad of styles and concepts from the cartoon-like figures of Chris Keinke (Bridal Envy and Big Gun) to the lifelike figures of Tamie Beldue (Draped Fabric and Temperament II). The interaction of these works in the exhibition enables one to see the past, present, and future of figurative art. And while the classical study of the human figure will remain integral to the study of art, works that break with traditional practice will continue to challenge both artist and viewer alike.
For the QX.net Nude International 2008, Jay Gorney, Director of Contemporary Art at the Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery in New York City, anonymously juried 775 entries and selected the 45 artworks on exhibit.
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Photography: What Now?
October 27 - December 9, 2007
Juror: Anita Douthat
With this third photography exhibition, the LAL continues to examine the currents found in the photography world today—the techniques currently being used by photographers and the trends in content.
More than ever, photography is one of the most accessible visual mediums. New technologies continue to be introduced and defined, pushing the evolution of photographic expression. Many photographers are working in the digital realm, while others remain loyal to traditional, time-honored processes. As evidenced in this exhibition, numerous processes are being used that allow the photographer to capture a moment, a thought or an idea and render it an image others can experience. Photography: What Now?shows the range of photographic techniques currently utilized by photographers throughout the country, and the diverse variety of subject matter they explore.
For Photography: What Now?, Anita Douthat, an award-winning photographer who resides in Northern Kentucky, anonymously juried 391 entries and selected the 74 artworks on exhibit.
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