Category: Exhibit M

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Art Exhibit M

Night Women by Delita Martin

CREDIT: Elle Perry

Elle Perry

Night Mother by Delita Martin

For the upcoming print edition of the Flyer I wrote about Eso Tolson’s “Spectacular Vernacular” exhibition now showing at the Memphis Slim House.

Another local art exhibition that incorporates text to tell a story about African-American life is “Night Women” by Huffman, Texas-based mixed-media artist Delita Martin.

From the exhibition’s statement: [Martin’s work] “deals with reconstructing the identity of Black women by piecing together the signs, symbols, and language found in what can be called everyday life…”

Elle Perry

Effie: She Sees The Truth by Delita Martin

Many of the portraits, inspired by vintage family photographs, feature the women superimposed over colorful, large graphical patterns, a nod to Martin’s printmaking background. Others include cursive text or safety pins and other household objects.

These objects are nondescript, but the subjects, these women, are not. From each set of frames, the women make eye contact with the viewer drawing them in to learn more about their stories, their histories.

At Annesdale Park Gallery through November 9th.

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Art Exhibit M

SWEET by Brantley Ellzey

CREDIT: Elle Perry

Elle Perry

The frontage of 422 N. Cleveland St. at Crosstown Arts for Brantley Ellzey’s SWEET.

With the orange and pink graphics (designed by Loaded for Bear) on the exterior of Crosstown Arts, one gets the feeling immediately that he or she is being transported back in time to a vintage candy shop.

The purity of the 22 pieces in SWEET, which artist/architect Brantley Ellzey spent a year working on, are a reaction to the contentious climate that the country finds itself in.

Over the past 15 years, Ellzey typically has done commission work consisting of rolled magazine, book, and other printed pages, something he refers to as “time capsules.” SWEET has the artist drilling down to the most simple form of his practice in terms of color and composition. Instead of patterned papers, he uses blank sheets of individually hand-rolled construction paper.

Ellzey sought out the inspirations derived from growing up in late 1960s Osceola, Arkansas — things like the Sears “Wish Book” catalog (also in a nod to the neighborhood’s affiliation with Sears, now Crosstown Concourse), childhood books, and the interior design and home decorating magazines that his mother received.

Other inspirations: Mary Blair, who worked for Disney studios, whose folk art and imagery Ellzey realized had inspired the way he perceived the world growing up. (Blair also designed “It’s a Small World.”) Also, modernist architects George and Ray Eames and Alexander Girard. In particular, Girard’s textiles are an obvious source of inspiration for several pieces, with bright, one or two color columned or checked patterns.

All of the pieces in SWEET are horizontal and face up except the Pixies (a reference to Pixy Stix), which on its base nearly reaches the room’s ceiling; Homer, which is a donut; and Honey, Honey, which is modeled after a honeycomb with rolled paper tubes facing outwards toward the audience.

There are grapes (with groups of rolled paper tubes in different hues of purple in the shapes of bunches), licorice, pink glittery spun cotton candy (surrounded by a contrasting cotton candy machine base designed by Perry Sponseller), and Laffy Taffy.

Elle Perry

Homer by Brantley Ellzey

The aforementioned Homer is an oversized homage to The Simpsons’ family patriarch and his love for the pastry. In real life, the piece is an inflatable pool raft with rolled paper paper-mached to it, topped with with three kinds of glitter replicating a donut, purple icing, and delectable sprinkles.

Homer includes a placard humorously forbidding both touching and eating the object.

All in all, SWEET accomplishes a tricky feat — invoking whimsical escapism while at the same time maintaining a high level of sophistication.

Through November 5.

Elle Perry

Carnival by Brantley Ellzey

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Art Exhibit M

Cory Dugan’s “Hapax Legomena”

Cory Dugan is a Unicorn, at least to me. He was the founding editor of Number: Inc. in 1987 and was the very first art critic for the Memphis Flyer. He has also contributed articles to The Commercial Appeal, Memphis magazine, Art Papers, ArtNews, and New Art Examiner. He has exhibited his work in what is now every defunct art space in the city, including the Memphis Center for Contemporary Art. Remember that place??!! He even lived in NYC in the mid-’80s after receiving his BFA from the University of Memphis, working as a graphic designer. So, to me Cory Dugan is a mythical creature. When I was in undergrad in the late ’90s, I thought no one was more important in the Memphis art world than Cory. For a little worthless artist like myself, these were/are legendary attributes. I wanted to be an artist and an art writer, Dugan was both. Just take another look at the title of his current exhibition, “Hapax Legomena.” He knows all the big words.

So, how did he know what a hapax legomenon, pl. hapax legomena, is to begin with? One night, a little over a year ago, he was drinking in his studio, which is really his entire apartment, and the dictionary screen saver on his iMac came on, as he was sitting there thinking about the world, he noticed the words hapax legomenon scroll across the screen. He thought to himself, “what the hell was that?” So he sat there staring at the screen saver until it appeared again. After a quick google search he found it meant “a word that occurs only once within a context, either in the written record of an entire language, in the works of an author, or in a single text.”

Dugan, as an artist and a writer, has always been interested in language. A previous series of work, “The Last Words,” consisted of a filing system that included the last word in every section of Ezra Pound’s Cantos. Gathering all the hapaxes of Waiting for Godot, Holy Sonnets, and the dramatic works of William Shakespeare, which partly comprise the 17 works in this exhibition, has to be much harder to attain than simply using typewriter and index cards. “No.” Dugan states, “there is an app for that.” Well, that makes it easier. Especially since some of the pieces in the exhibition use hapaxes from the Hebrew New Testament and the Greek Bible. The words, as Dugan says, “are completely visual to me.” With the Shakespeare text, he created his first video art work, incorporating elements from Orson Welles’ Othello. “The dramas seemed to suggest it; Shakespeare needed it,” Dugan added.

He understands that researching and using hapax legomena is “completely nonsensical.” There are several academics that have thrown themselves into the study of the term. There is even a bitter debate among scholars whether or not Shakespeare is using hapax legomena or a nonce, meaning a made up word? Cory believes these are hapax legomena because these words have now entered our lexicon, words such as honorificabilitudinitatibus, big words. But he knows no one really cares. “Why would you?” he says and continues by saying this is exactly why he does it. 

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Art Exhibit M

Vid-O-belisk, I Never Knew You

CREDIT: Brooks Museum of Art

When news broke this week that Nam Jun Paik’s massive “Vid-O-belisk” is in the process of coming down, no longer to hold its traditional place in the center of the Brooks Museum of Art’s rotunda, I felt a mix of emotions. The first of these was relief, because I have long held a grudge against the “Vid-O-belisk” for being, IMHO, not a very good work of art from an otherwise great artist. The second emotion I felt was nostalgia for my stint working as a caterer at the Museum, because “Vid-O-belisk,” with its squiggly neon and antique video art, was a functional compass for us servers. “Go to the table nearest the red owl thinger,” we would instruct each other. 

With that in mind, I Facebook chatted local painter and my old catering co-worker, Dimitri Stevens, and we remembered the “Vid-O-belisk” in all its clunky glory. Here is what we recalled:

Brooks Museum of Art

Nam Jun Paik’s ‘Vid-O-belisk’ (2002)

Eileen: Hi, Dimitri! How are you on this day? A day when the “Vid-O-belisk” is no longer the first thing you see in Memphis’ biggest art Museum?

Dimitri: I’m doing fine Eileen. It’s a little hollow inside the Brooks now-a-days.

Eileen: Well, we’ll always have our memories of working catering events at the Brooks, trying to dodge the massive tower of antique TVs in the middle of the rotunda.

Dimitri: The neon will be remembered as well.

Eileen: You’re right. The best thing about the ol’ “Vid-O-belisk” were those little neon squigglies attached to the side of the TVS like a case of viral worms, which the catering staff affectionately named things like “Pineapple Parrot.” Can you remember any of the names?

Dimitri: No, I’m not too savvy on the names, but the squiggles seemed to range from stick figures to simplified architecture.

Eileen: There were definitely some music notes on there. And a weird eye. I’m partial to the Pi symbol and the lil neon buddha. What message do you think Nam Jun Paik was trying to send with this tower of junk TVs and random symbols?

Dimitri: I was thinking it’s about accumulated cultures through technology.

Eileen: That’s probably it. We used to cater a lot of weddings that happened around this monument to accumulated cultures through technology. In your honest opinion, would you invite the “Vid-O-belisk” to your wedding?

Dimitri: Definitely. I don’t have any big wedding plans yet, but it was an overall beautiful piece.

Eileen: It wasn’t my cup of tea, but I know it brought joy to many. Thank you for taking this moment to remember the “Vid-O-belisk” with me. And cheers to whatever comes next.

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Art Exhibit M

The Loch Ness Monster and the Ominous Hole: Your Dreams Interpreted

CREDIT: Kay Neilsen

This is the second installment of our ongoing attempts at dream interpretation. Today we take on monsters, boulders, and seemingly benign deep sea picnics: 

“I had a dream where me and some of my friends were having some kind of underwater picnic (breathing didn’t seem to be an issue) and we were really deep underwater hanging out on this rocky bed on all of these big ol’ boulders. And I don’t know what caused it, but a rock up above loosened and came bouncing down and I watched it really closely. Well, it fell down and fell right on top of this ominous looking hole at the bottom of the bed and I knew something was wrong and sure enough there’s this big ol rumbling that starts… and this huge, terrifying prehistoric loch ness fucking monster things comes flying out of that hole, dislodging the rock that fell on top of it.”

Dear Endangered Dreamer,

Can I offer you some herbal tea? Maybe a back massage? Some epsom salts? Because it sounds to me like you are encountering some undue (or maybe overdue) stress, in the form of a “prehistoric loch ness fucking monster.”

Let’s examine. At the start of your dream, you are having a picnic (good), underwater (maybe good; certainly impressive), without needing to breathe (great!) Water dreams are, in my experience, usually about powerful forces carrying or overwhelming the dreamer, but yours seems to be more about your own power. You’re deep in the water with your friends, hanging out on boulders, having the time of your life. So far so good.

Kay Neilsen

But then the trouble starts. You notice an ominous looking hole in the ocean floor (bad, very bad) and, above you, a rock dislodges from the watery depths. What initially seemed like a benign deep sea picnic now seems threatening. Good for you, though, ED, because you’re watching the bouncing boulders closely. Perhaps you don’t have a choice, or perhaps you somehow knew that this rockslide was imminent. The rock lodges in the hole — a temporary respite — and then the rumbling begins.

(Side note: I’m interested in this rumbling, mainly because it is a cinematic detail, and it is curious to me when dreams are cinematic. What use is foreshadowing in a dream? And yet, stress dreams are about nothing but foreshadowing — we notice a paperclip is out of place at the office and are suddenly aware of our own nakedness. Or an open door cues us that this is not just a regular house, but a NIGHTMARE HOUSE. Were they always like this? Cinema developed in close enough proximity to Freudian psychoanalysis that maybe we will never really know which came first: the cinematic chicken or the egg of the subconscious.)

What comes next in your dream is a terrifying prehistoric monster. Very, very, extremely bad, right? This is one shitshow of a picnic, ED. Rocks, monsters, the bottom of the sea….

…Except I am not so convinced. Here’s my read: I think that in the first movement of the dream, the picnic scene, things weren’t so great. You thought you were in repose, but you were actually drowning. The underwater boulders were crumbling around you. You watched closely. And then, wham!, LOCH NESS FUCKING MONSTER THING.

Don’t worry. You might be scared now, but a prehistoric monster is actually a great dream omen. It means you have some kind of unchecked power within that is ready to get out. It means that something primal is ready to free itself from the bottom of your ocean. It means that you shouldn’t try to cover up your holes with crumbling boulders.

Wallace Smith

Don’t try to tame that baby. Just ride it where it wants to take you. If I know my Nessy, she is probably headed for the surface. If you want guidance, you should look to fairytale-inspired early 20th century illustration; artists like Kay Neilsen and Wallace Smith. These guys were groovy with the subconscious dragons.

Happy hunting, xo, 

Eileen 

We here at Exhibit M are taking a stab at dream interpretation, with the help of art and anecdote. Do you wonder what your dreams are about? Send them to: eileen@contemporary-media.com.

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Art Exhibit M

The New Planetarium is Dope and Space is Terrifying

Edit 1/30: The Pink Palace has confirmed that they are going to host live music in the Planetarium. “Space has no limits!” said Ronda Cloud, who handles publicity for the Museum. 

The day has come! The new Sharpe Planetarium, now known as the Autozone Dome, at the Pink Palace Museum is back in action. The old slide projectors are gone, replaced by digital “Full Dome” technology. In the place of the analog lighting effects is a more movie-like experience. 

This morning, a crowd of press, Mayor Jim Strickland, corporate representatives from Autozone and other private sponsors gathered for the grand opening of the new dome. The renovated planetarium is roomier, with a space near the the front of the theater that one of the presenters mentioned may be eventually used for live music. Hopefully this means more local multi-media performances — what could be cooler than opera or electronica or underground rap paired with star graphics? The planetarium manager also joked (I think it was a joke) that they could perform wedding ceremonies inside. 

After a tour through some of the neater educational features of the new planetarium, all controlled by an iPad, we watched a program called “Firefall.” Firefall is a narrative about the life and death of space debris such as meteors, meteoroids, meteorites and asteroids. The graphics were excellent and, while the storytelling was true-to-form campy, “Firefall” proved both visually and narratively gripping. I learned: space is horrifying, mass extinctions by way of space rocks are imminently possible, and, as Carl Sagan put it, there are billions and billions of stars out there. 

For those who miss the older technology, here is a useful timeline of planetariums. For those who want to book their band inside the new planetarium, I have reached out for comment from the Museum and will keep you updated. In the mean time, the new planetarium should be on the top of your list for the best date spots in town. 

The New Planetarium is Dope and Space is Terrifying

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Art Exhibit M

See the Pictures: David Bowie Visits Memphis College of Art

David Bowie played a couple concerts in Memphis back in the early 1970s, during his Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane days. In February of 1973, Bowie played (as Ziggy) alongside his band, the Spiders From Mars. The eyebrowless rocker then hung around town for another day and paid an impromptu visit to Memphis College of Art, where he met longtime teacher and painter Dolph Smith. 

Smith engineered the meeting by contacting Cherry Vanilla, Bowie’s PR person. The artist presented Bowie with a painting inspired by the song “Major Tom.” It shows a vividly-colored landscape and two paper airplanes — a longtime motif in Smith’s work. 

Smith, now in his eighties, remembers Bowie as unpretentious: “You know performers have a stage presence,” Smith remembered. “I found he had a modest person to person presence. No pretense… just so easy to be with that night.” 

The entire incident is remembered by local film auteur and lay historian Mike Mccarthy in two essays about the meeting, and about Dolph Smith. The photos below are all by Cherry Vanilla. 

Dolph Smith

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Art Exhibit M

Peculiar Forms: Taiwanese Metalwork in Memphis

CREDIT: Visual Cues, Ms. Chen, Ting-Chun

Visual Cues, Ms. Chen, Ting-Chun

This Sunday, December 13, from 2-5PM, the Metal Museum will host an opening ceremony for a new traveling exhibition, the 2015 Taiwan International Metal Crafts Competition. The exhibition, which will remain on view through March 13, 2016, features the best of Taiwanese metalwork as judged by the The Gold Museum of Taipei City. 

Soliloquy, Ms. Ou, Li-Ting

The artworks featured in the exhibition draw from both modern and more traditional tropes of metalwork, combining eastern and western craft sensibilities to create a selection both broad and masterful. Work by Li-Ting Ou and Ting-Chun Chen (both featured above) stands out. 

Flavour, Ms. Chen, Siou-Yi

The Metal Museum is one of few museums in the world devoted exclusively to fine metalwork. This will be the first exhibition from Taiwan that the Metal Museum has hosted. 

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Art Exhibit M

Tonight: See Lance Turner’s Infinities

You might know the artist Lance Turner from seeing his work at GLITCH, or from his pixelated mural of the late rocker Jay Reatard, located on the side of a furniture store in South Main. Turner is currently Crosstown Arts’ first studio resident. Tonight, he will open an installation created during the four month residency. 

When I visited Turner’s studio earlier this week — a small back room at Crosstown, the walls of which the artist has covered with zigzagging line work and systemically gradated colors — Turner said, “I work a lot with the concept of infinity.”  

Turner’s symmetrical paintings are extended by mirrors that he places at points throughout the space, and refracted by 3-D models, crafted to mimic the studio itself. The models descend in scale and wrap around each other, like nesting eggs. Forms recur throughout the visual excess: disembodied eyes, a circle of sharks with open mouths. 

Tonight’s opening is from 7PM – 10PM at Crosstown. It is not to be missed. 

Lance Turner in his studio at Crosstown Arts

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Art Exhibit M

Become a Design Genius at the Memphis Public Library for Free

When I was fresh out of college and in search of gainful employment, I applied to a bunch of jobs that required me to know Adobe Photoshop without my actually having any idea how to use Photoshop. I figured that it couldn’t really be that hard, since various tween-age members of my family seemed adept at it. I figured I’d fake it until I made it. 

But when I got my first assignment that required me to know how to lasso pixels (what is this, really?) I panicked. I had about 24 hours to figure out what I was doing or else look dumb. So I got a subscription to Lynda, a website that has tons of very useful tutorials that teach you how to use everything from architectural design software to Adobe products. It is an extremely useful tool for both beginning and veteran designers who want to keep up with fast-changing software (note: this is not being paid for by Lynda. It is a great website.) It isn’t design focused, either; there are tutorials on business and coding as well. The downside is that at $25 per month, the site is relatively expensive for people on a limited budget. 

Which is why it rules that the Memphis Public Library announced recently that it will provide Lynda to library cardholders for free, thanks to support from the Memphis Library Foundation. 

From the Library’s blog post about the new development: 

“Customers can customize their own curricula with more than 122,000 individual tutorial videos, covering a range of topics from desktop and office software to photography, web development, graphic arts, recording and audio engineering, marketing, technical skills, business strategies, creative techniques, career development and more. Customers interested in computer programming, coding, computer-aided drafting, IT management, web design, music, 3-D animation, and other related areas of study will find courses to match their interests as well. Certificates of completion are available for customers who want to measure progress or build their resumes.

… ‘The Library’s mission has always been about providing customers access to the information they need and want, in whatever format works best – books, audio, video, or online,’ noted Collection Development Manager Alan Stewart. ‘We’re delighted to be able to extend and enhance our mission by offering these high-quality e-learning resources from Lynda.com.'” 

Time to learn all the Adobe products on the cheap. Thanks, MPL!