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Bright Spots - Unremarkable exhibit has some good work
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Published: November 8, 2009
Celebrations of cultural diversity have become ubiquitous in the art world in recent years. Among local institutions reflecting this generally salutary trend is Associated Artists of Winston-Salem, whose latest exhibition to engage the cultural diversity theme is on view through Nov. 20 at Associated Artists Gallery.
"Cultural Crossroads" is the group's second competitive, juried art exhibition of that title to be presented in as many years. Like many other juried art shows that Associated Artists has sponsored in its 53-year history, it grew out of a competitive process that began with a nationally publicized call for entries. The proceedings were open to all artists paying the entry fees ($22 per artwork for members, $30 for non-members) and sending digital-photo images of their submissions. Images were submitted by only 73 artists representing 12 states and one foreign country (Suriname). Most of the artists submitted multiple works, so the total number of images came to 214.
The guest juror for the show was Rosie Gordon-Wallace, the founder, director and curator of the distinctively named Diaspora Vibe Gallery and Cultural Arts Incubator, a non-profit arts center in Miami. All of the images submitted were downloaded onto a disk and mailed to her. The only printed information
included on the disk with the images were the artworks' titles and dimensions. The artist's names, comments about their work and information about their backgrounds were intentionally omitted, in the interest of objectivity.
Gordon-Wallace said in a recent interview that it took her a while to view, review and critically sort through all the images. "It was an intense process," she said, noting that she looked at each image five or six times before selecting the 80 works that make up the show -- works representing the efforts of 39 artists. She gave her final approval when she saw the actual works in the gallery during a visit to Winston-Salem in early October.
Exceptional pieces
Irrespective of diversity concerns, in the end the quality of any competitive art show depends on the aesthetic quality of the works submitted for consideration. Gordon-Wallace had only favorable comments about judging the show, as might be expected of any guest juror who is paid for his/her services and treated hospitably by the host institution. But it appears to me that she didn't have a lot of visually exciting work to choose from, based on the number of mediocre pieces and works seemingly unrelated to the "Cultural Crossroads" theme that made it into the show. I'm betting she didn't toss out the really good stuff. The bright spots in the show are conspicuous.
One of them is Ting Ying Han's Missing, a metaphorical treatment of Han's identity as a Taiwanese American. This set of domestic dining-room furniture includes six stools and a round-topped table set with bowls, chopsticks and Chinese-style soup spoons, all covered with or seemingly fabricated from dried white rice kernels. Gordon-Wallace bestowed the exhibition's $1,000 first-place award on this centrally placed ensemble and Han's other piece in the show -- a less effective work titled Self-Storage, which juxtaposes a dollhouse with a video about domestic routine.
Several pieces stand out for their craftsmanship as much as their content and relationships to the cross-cultural theme. These include a figural wood sculpture by Andrew Fullwood and an imaginatively embellished gourd by Carol Kroll. Fullwood's Maker of Drums and Rain suggests an African-derived spirit effigy. Kroll's cornily titled Van Gourd sets a tiny round gourd -- painted as a miniature Earth -- spinning in the middle of a larger, pear-shaped gourd carved and painted to suggest a spiraling galaxy. Other strong craft-based works are ceramic totem-pole sculptures by Jenny Mastin and William Newton.
Michael Newman pits the culture of the Italian Renaissance against modern industrial-technical culture in his Sansopolero, another highlight. It positions two digitally degraded images -- both derived from Italian Renaissance portraits -- so that they face each other across an expanse of Florentine architecture, all in a clunky, gold-hued steel frame.
Appropriated imagery is also effectively employed by two collagists --Kurt Nahar, whose two dada-esque collages are reminiscent of Hannah Hoch, and Tamara Straser-Meltzer, whose collage portrait Mary is more intricate and psychedelic.
A few abstract works -- notably two paintings by Elizabeth Leal and three drawings by Emily Clare -- are of interest on their own terms, aside from their questionable relevance to the show's theme. In fact, their titles suggest they have more to do with spiritual issues than with cultural matters. (Leal's boldly colored, ragged-edged paintings are from a series titled "From Matter to Spirit" and the series title of Clare's monochromatic, organic-vortex drawings is "Seeing from Within.")
"Cultural Crossroads" will be on view through Nov. 20 at Associated Artists Gallery, 301 W. Fourth St. For more information, call 722-0340.
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