On a dreary Sunday, March 6th, (after a late night of drawing caricatures at a Mardi Gras party, and I must admit, some customary debauchery) I got myself, a little more bleary eyed than I'd have liked, over to Mahler Gallery of The Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, in our State Capital of Raleigh, NC.
I was there to attend the reception of the 2011 North Carolina Artists Exhibition, hosted every year, by the Raleigh Fine Arts Society. I had decided to submit a work of RepTire art, Leviathan, into the show, and the Juror, Peter Nisbet, Cheif Curator for the Ackland Museum of Art, in Chapel Hill, NC, had appearently discerned that it would make a good addition into the show!
Needless to say, this was a considerable honor for me and my RepTire Artwork to be included in this showing of some of our famously very artistic State's current 'Fine Artists'.
Here I will attempt to sharing some photos, footage, and fixin'' from this memorable event!
So anyways, I got ushered to a table for my name tag, and then into a giant darkly lit performance hall. On the stage were three chairs, a giant screen, and up front, a grandiose floral arrangment. This was stage from which our Juror, Mr. Nisbet would be delivering his 'Lecture' about his choices for inclusion in the Exhibition.
This was exciting! I felt like a kid on a field trip to the planetarium!
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| 'AF Shot' of a cosmic Chandelier in the 'Atrium' Entrance of the PECPA |
First, we got a word from our hosts, the Raleigh Fine Arts Society, and I have to report that I was both a little shocked and somewhat pleasently suprised by what I had heard. You see, truth be known, I have to own up to a long held prejudice against the city of Raleigh. I think if it as a little bit shooshy, and extravagant, with out a whole lot really hearty value or true good taste. Kind of like really expensive high end raman noodles, compared to a good minestroni, which I would liken my native Durham too.
And to be honest, before meeting these people, I had sort of lumped the Raliegh Fine Arts Society in that catagory (though I was actually not familiar with this organization, prior to getting the RFQ fort the show). So I was quite intrigued when the Chair of this organization shared with us the audience, her apology to 3 of the Artists, whose work would soon be removed, on account of the Nudity shown in them!
The Raleigh Fine Arts Society then CONDEMNED this "act of cencorship"! Right ON!
Finally, it was the turn of our Juror, to tell his story.
Mr. Nisbet is an English fellow, and it seems is freshly new to NC, coming from the Harvard Museum of Art. There he was "the Dailmler-Benz Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum (a branch it seems, where) he was was responsible for a collection of 39,000 works of central and northern European art ranging from the Middle Ages to the present and played a leading role in the reconceptualization and revitalization of the museum, leading to its relocation in 1991." (from the 'Meet Our Juror' section of the program).
So no doubt, having seen a whole heck of a lot of nudity in art, through out his ages, and The ages, no doubt, I'm sure Mr. Nisbet was a little bit amused and intrigued himself, to learn of this demand from the Progress Energy Center to remove a few paltry displays of flesh. (In fact Nancy Kenna, the Chair shared with me towards the end of the reception that Mr. Nisbet had taken it upon himself to go chew them out personally!!!)
What proceeded was a somewhat sad story of this Jurors somewhat harrowing plight, flash-lit by flourishes of wit. He spoke of long evenings spent with a record 550 submissions, trying to winnow out almost 9 out of every 10 of these, a task I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. To top it off, he also shared the tale of a dejected feeling Artist, who hadn't made the cut, guilt tripping him on his answering machine, telling him that his repeated rejections to these shows make him want to give up.
Mr Nisbet replied that such experiences made him want to give up too!
He notes in his Juror's Statement that "Towards the end of many hours, he is interested to note how he found the sculpture submissions to be the most extravagant, the paintings to be the tamest, the photographs to be the most elegant, and the mixed media works to be (appropriately) the most resistant to generalization."
And his speech craftily reflected this.
He began with the photographs, and had some really interesting things to say about some I thought, pretty tame work. One wonderful example was that of a photograph of a tourist gazing up the skirt of a giant statue of a woman.
Finding something far beyond the limited one liner scope of the photograph, he found in the photo, or rather, in his selection of the photo, a biting commentary on the gawking/spectacle nature of photography!!! Alright Man! I was starting to like this guy really quickly!
Then he went through the paintings, and I have to admit, I was sort of feeling for him.
He made one observation that many of the pieces were simply pretty, but that they didn't venture beyond this prettiness (even some of the mixed media work). He asked, after all that Painting has been through in the last jarring century, turning its entire world upside down, over and over, can a painter really submit something as banal as a photorealistic scene?
Well, its not for me to say, but he was there, then, and he said it! (Like probably any artist who loves to draw, I actually do have a place in my heart for the devotion to place scenic paintings, particularly urban scenes).
Anyways, I was kinda feeling for this guy. I mean 500 tame paingings?..poor fellow.
However, it took me a while to catch on, but eventually, I realized what was going on. It seemed that this guy was no fool in making his presentation, and it seems he had saved his favorites for last (and I have to admit, I agreed with his tastes).
As we drew towards the end, some really fresh 2D art began to emerge on the screen before us.
And then, to kick off the sculpture, he pulled up an image of who else, but that big black lug of knotted, folded tire, Leviathan!
Wow!
(I video recorded what he said, and am going to ask his permission to share it here)
This learned man had some very nice things to say about this sculpture!
"The sculpture that I start with is, I think, a rather fine piece of work that picks up on the history of 20th-Century Geometric Abstraction, and the Utopian notion of mathematical forms and mathematical formulae, one can an ideal form of art, that somehow represents an ideal world, here translated into a very beautiful tire, that wraps around itself, in some emblem of eternity. But of course, as we know, tires will rot out at some point, and wear out. A great melding, I think, of Minimalist ideas, Abstraction, and modern materials. I like that piece a lot."
You know, aside from being flattered by his reaction to me piece, it was also nice to know that I had given this guy something to 'tickle his fancy' a little. I'm glad you liked in Peter, I was hoping that you would!
From the there we poured out into the adjoining Mahler Gallery (the auditorium we were in is where the NC Symphony regularly performs, among others!
For food, not the lox that I had been hoping to lap up!!!
Nope, just oreo cookies, with their asses dipped in chocolate (taking after our Lady James)
Now That's just what I would expect from the Raleigh Fine Arts Society- a little Guilding the Lily ;)
(Too bad Raleigh hadn't 'dipped it's ass in chocolate' before P-funk arrived, and George Clinton decreed once and for all "Raleigh ain't got not soul." He tried).
Folks I met:
I had the distinct pleasure to run into one of my Favorite famiies of Durham folk over there in Rally, Linda Belans, an old teacher of mine at CFS!, her lovely daughter Lisa Sobsey, with whom I coincidantaly studied at the SF Art Institute! and her warmly savage husband, Scott Howell, who was showing his stirring Photograph in the show!Missing from the that photo was Father Figure (to much of Durham, I am so sure!) Jim Lee, Bamboo Turtle Artist, Of Many Varied Talents, and Influences. I caught up with him eventually, and shared with him that there's a certain artwork of his that I am after.
After the reception, I headed out with a few choice accomplices, for a photographic expedition of the space. Here's some of what we came up with...
This is the original front of the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. I can't remember how old it is, but appearently a couple 100 I think...it was once used as the governer's offices, or mansion of something, I guess kind of like the North Carolina White House, I don't know. Anyways, in an innovative architectual renovation, this original face to what is now a huge Auditorium, is now housed with in this giant glass Atrium. The grand columns you see in the front of the building today, are actually a facade, a relpica of the original colomns, now housed with in. Now thats a front porch!
The Balistrade
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Vamping in Action! |
