See What Inspired Me is the title of Severn Eaton's newest exhibit at PUSH Gallery in downtown Asheville. Known for his narrative paintings that reflect on the cultural milieu of neoliberalism, Eaton's new show heralds his familiar anti-consumerist perspective but contains no paintings. Instead, Eaton uses images and slogans cut from billboard advertisements to create an environment that is sensationally grotesque. At this close range the onslaught of bright colors and pixelated food is both horrifying and fascinating.
In the middle of the room two life-sized human forms made out of clear packing tape are connected to a box and breathe in and out when activated -- literally deflating and inflating each other. The kinetic rigging of this sculpture is pretty amazing and lends a compelling interactive element to the show.
Pop into PUSH Gallery and Skateshop at 25 Patton Ave and see for yourself before the show comes down later this month.
On the evening of March 12th, one block of Walnut Street in downtown Asheville was closed to traffic in order to accommodate {Pre}Happening a multi media event sponsored by the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center and Asheville's Media Arts Project.
Here Mark Koven and Gene Felice project video onto the BB&T building. The bus they are sitting on is called Easel RiderMobile Arts Lab. Says Koven, "It is a project that was the vision of Diane Ruggerio, city superintendent. I have been helping her and her team put it together and we were really excited about its debut. It will be showcased again on April 9th during the Re Happening and again during the Hatch festival."
Video projections by Scott Furr
Performance by Claire Elizabeth Barratt
LED throwies bulletin created by participating audience members. (Wing structure built by Mark Koven.)
Sound by Elisa Faires and Chandra Shukla
The event was part of a series to promote April 9th's {RE}Happening which is set to take place at the historic grounds of the main campus of Black Mountain College. As stated on the website: "{Re}Happening balances the history, tradition and experience of BMCM+AC with the forward thinking and media-based collective of artists that define the MAP."
Courtney Chappell is currently finishing up the MFA program at Western University. As her thesis project she created I can see your house from up here, a mixed media installation based on her personal response to images of war, and the dehumanization of the "other." See more of her work at courtneychappell.com
How has being in a 3 year graduate program affected the way you look at art?
School provided the basis of an understanding of various art epochs. I think of the art world --and the recent history of art as we know it -- as a game that you observe from a distance. It’s like the game of the art establishment. It’s a construct that I didn’t really see myself connected to, but school gave me an understanding of the institution of art. It helps certain old or archaic texts seem relevant.
Example?
When I was an undergrad I remember learning about how this painting by Picasso (Les Demoiselles d'Avignon) was the gateway to Modern Art Modern Art. He flattened the perspective, which in turn became self-referential because it drew attention to the artist’s decision to do that – the simplification of form and so on.
In grad school I learned to think more like an art historian or critic. I also gained a global self-consciousness about my work, I had a strong self-awareness that I was very separated from this world of art making as a trajectory, and I never found a place for it in a historical context.
My knowledge of the history of art making became more fine-tuned. I learned about German Expressionism and the various problems that arose, such as the conflation of the victim and the victimizer during the Holocaust. The critics say Josef Buey’s for example romanticized the sufferings of the holocaust. I formed my own analysis of his work but I never felt like I was saying anything new. There’s a feeling with art history that everything’s been said.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that ultimately the difference between undergrad and grad is that the focus is narrowed. There’s a feeling in grad school that your focus is so narrow and that by the time you get out you’ve only touched the tip of an iceberg.
I have to say that there’s nothing in grad school that you can’t learn outside of it it. You just need to get your friends to tell you what their favorite artists are, look at curriculums on the internet for reading lists if you care. It is nice to have someone to talk about these things with though.
Lets talk about your work.
I felt very self-conscious. It’s the only time where you really have an exclusive relationship with your viewers that that is formalized. I always felt invested in the opinions of the people who inhabited this temporary community that I was a part of.
I was very susceptible to changing my ideas to connect to people. When I was finally in a situation where people were offering their suggestions it felt like such a gift, to have people around me who would tell me what they wanted from a piece that would help give voice to your vision. It felt very collaborative.
But I know that a part of grad school is learning to defend yourself against other people’s critiques. So I would constantly find myself wanting to make alterations according to their suggestions but sometimes they would critique without offering a suggestion of what to do better. It would be a blanket suggestion like, “this isn’t working,” or “you need to dig deeper.” I was always asking for specific instructions, “should I paint portraits, should I do more house.” It would feel good to me to relinquish control.
But this is also my own personal issue with relating to the viewer and some people don’t have that instinct to internalize or conform to what people think they should.
Of course, many times I disagreed with the critique.
How did you get to your final thesis project?
I had always been really controlled in my work and it was somewhat masochistic. I wanted to learn how to paint the right way. In a way I felt unworthy of art and if I could paint well I could do anything. This perfectionist instinct became exasperated during the first part of my schooling. Because of that pressure I sort of cracked and started cutting up pieces of my junk mail in an attempt to do the worst possible thing and reject anything I thought I was supposed to be doing. That lead me to create these small cities and little houses, and it was a different way to connect to the people I had been painting in my paintings.
Who were these people?
Individuals. Strangers, humans that I’ve only seen on the Internet basically, or in the news.
Specific to the Gulf War?
I kept it specific to the Iraq Invasion because that was the first war I was conscious of. I feel like it’s useful when approaching a war or an invasion as a topic to keep my focus narrow.
How did the installation come about?
I think that the imaginary pressure of working in a tight knit community that was also an institution led me to work in a frantic and rushed manner which I had always tried to fight when I was painting and which I allowed to be a part of this work. When I was working on the installation I jumped from one thing to the next – one object to the next. I would draw as quickly as possible. Leave things in an embarrassingly unfinished state. Sometimes over decorate or overwork things and then get lazy with the line work. I allowed myself to be easily distracted. I decided that that way of working would tell some sort of story about my role as an American --my experience as American woman.
In what way?
In that I think America is easily distracted.
So in this way the process of making the work became a part of it?
Yes. Very much so.
How do you think the experience of being in grad school will affect your work from this point on?
The main thing that’s been great are my friends. Maybe I got lucky. Two of the people I ended up being in school with were old friends. Everyone in the program was great and that was really wonderful to go through. Beneath all the trappings of academia, the actual connections you make are very real. We have a joke that we actually came to grad school to meet each other.
These images are ambassadors from my ever-growing ocean of images;
they form the tip of an iceberg of perceptions, thoughts and feelings about the world.
Emissaries from the unseen, they are cresting now for just a moment before their inevitable disappearance. ~ S. Collett.
It's been a few years since photographer Sebastian Collett has exhibited his photographs in Asheville. For the month of November his photos will once again be on display at The Chase Gallery located in the NC Stage Company lobby, 15 Stage Lane in downtown Asheville.
His show, Haunted is an installation of images he has taken across the country and in Europe.
Says Collett: "I am haunted by these photographs, as I am by the times they represent.They simultaneously reveal and conceal me. Some depict places literally haunted – by what's happened or by the anticipation of what's to come."
"Exploring the dark side of female relationships" is the theme of Ladylike, a group art show currently on display at Satellite Gallery in downtown Asheville. Guest curator Alli Good came up with the idea when she found a box full of letters passed between her friends in high school, and realized that women's relationships with each other aren't as sugar and spice as they appear to be.
What I find most interesting about the Ladylike exhibit are the thoughtful collaborations that ensued between artists. Gallery owner, Bill Thompson really did a great job hanging the work by allowing each art piece to speak for itself and compliment neighboring pieces.
As a participant, I am honored to exhibit my paintings in conjunction with the amazing work of 10 other female Asheville artists. It was a pleasure -- and admittedly awkward at times -- to get together with this group for planning sessions. I would go to to the meetings with the theme of the show front and center in my mind -- amused and self conscious of my own behavior with these women. In this case life was imitating art that imitates life.
Ladylike will be on display until November 21st at Satellite Gallery located at 55 Broadway.
Read more about the show: Frenemies Like These, written by Alli Marshall for The Mountain Xpress.
Isn't it such a drag when you visit a museum and you're not allowed to touch anything?
This Thursday evening, for one night only, Erin Fussell and Emily Baker are converting their apartment into a gallery where all the work on display is touchable.
Participating artists include: Erin Fussell, Emily Baker, Sarah Cavalieri, Ursula Gullow, Courtney Chappell, Alli Good, Sarah Danforth, Steve Spurgeon, Katie Johnson, Leila Amiri, Daniel Abide, Anna Thompson, Megan McKissack, Virginia Aberle, Marin Mitchell, Butch, Luke and musical installation by Ross Gentry
The event is located at 116 E Chestnut St. Apt. 25 (corner of Chestnut and Merrimon)
Thursday August 12th 7-10pm
(Here's an explanation of the piece I'm including in the show.)
While strolling through Downtown Books and News this weekend, I was delighted to discover a wonderful new edition to the store.
Recently DBN manager, Julian Vorus, had the walls of the store painted a crisp shade of white, but he noticed that handprints kept appearing on the door to his office. To fix this problem, Vorus commissioned local artist Lisa Nance to paint this mural.
The books on the shelf contain the names of people who have worked at DBN or have been associated with the store in some way. I love the little Star Wars creatures.
This is Retail, the cat who made DBN her home for over a decade. Retail passed away more than 3 years ago. She was crotchety and adorable. She had a little lightening bolt on her head. We all were sad when she died and I think this is the perfect homage to her.
You can find the mural in the magazine section of the store which is located at 67 N. Lexington Ave.
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