INSECTOLOGY

Insectology was curated by Laura Amussen and opened Thursday February 10 in The Silber Gallery at Goucher College. This is a great space. The gallery is clean and bright as one would expect a college gallery to be and there is plenty of room for food, drinks and mingling just outside of the gallery space so if you want to socialize you can do so without standing in front of an artist's work.

Talia Greene "Colony"

Overall the work in the show was pretty tight, and I mean that literally. Lots of detail oriented imagery or painstakingly small details in the work, but then again it is a show exploring the world and life of insects 

 Left is the work of Tailia Greene. It appears that she has taken old photos covered them with dead bees and then re-photographed them. That doesn't sound as impressive as it really is. She has covered an entire wall with these impressive images. (see image above)

 Right is the work of Marian April Glebes. She seems to have taken deceased and damaged insects and repaired or modified them. She has repaired the wings of a moth with sewing thread and there were locusts I believe that were silver leafed...
And various other insect body modifications. This work didn't really draw me in from a distance but once I got up close it was pretty impressive. The scale and craftsmanship worked really well. Glebes' attention to detail is well worth a second look. Take a magnifying glass!!!




'bouyant' by Renee Rendine. The artist was inside of this dome structure made of what appeared to be paper tubes. She was using a translucent material to cover the interior of the structure. She appeared to be cocooning herself perhaps for hibernation or a metamorphosis.

See Renee? She's inside

I have to admit that I have issues with this piece by Jennifer Coster. I don't have a better shot than this detail but it was basically two ant farms linked together, framed and hung on the wall. Sure it looks kool but what happens after the show. Ants will dig tunnels no matter what but with no queen they are basically just moving dirt. I know that Jennifer is not responsible for the mass marketing of these creatures but I certainly hope that she will care for these orphaned creatures with no real colony of their own after Insectology is taken down.

Public Toilet (Toilet in Public???)

 A few weeks ago this 'object' appeared on the median sidewalk of the 200 block of East North Ave right outside of the Public School Administration building.  I drove by it many times until finally on Wednesday February 9, 2011 I could ignore my curiosity no longer and I stopped to investigate.

As it appears it is in fact toilet.  It has been collaged with business cards, newspaper articles, certified mail  receipts, a postcard from Vegas, a picture of Bill Clinton, a gift certificate from 'Shorty's Underground Ribs and it includes a shoe shine kit. I'm not sure if this was a piece of art or not, the decoupage technique was a bit raw and the tape holding everything on did not appear to be archival.

 My first thought was that that it was a memorial to someone but I couldn't find any connection amongst the imagery. It seemed to be a completely random gathering of papers, almost as if someone had cleaned out a drawer but the shoe shine kit puzzled me. So I thought maybe someone was running a shine business on North Ave. but a toilet with no seat s hardly a comfy situation, and all of the reading material has become permanently attached so that's no good.

Note the fake money in the bowl...

So my final diagnosis is... This is a sweet piece of Baltimore folk art created by a passionate, tortured individual for some unknown reason and placed very purposefully in a high traffic spot. This gift and all of it's mysteries were bestowed upon our fair city for as long as DPW would ignore. Sadly it was removed the day after I took these photos. We may never know who the artist is and sometimes I think it's better that way.

Self Portrait as a Rock Star

Gary Kachadourian is like an artist's version of a 5 star general, he knows how to rally the troops and get them marching. Friday January 28, 2011 was the opening of 'Self Portrait as a Rock Star'. In this show Gary put together at Current Gallery he asked artist to contribute a portrait of themselves as their favorite rock star (as the title suggests). I don't know how many artists were involved in total but as you can see Current Gallery was packed!

There was a ton of work. The quality and execution varied greatly. Some pieces were very simple 'doodles' on what appeared to be a notepad while others were complex and detail oriented paintings, photos and mixed media pieces. There were even a few relatively ambitious video pieces. It was a bit hard to get a real look at all of the work because the place was so packed.

A bit later in the evening the karaoke began!! This was a really nice touch and rounded out the social nature of such an event very well. I was a bit disappointed that they ran out of Natty Boh around ten o'clock. 

Making the Sausage

PMS Cubed.  Opened Friday January 14, 2011

A performance/Installation by Joseph DiGuiseppe and Chris Golas at Clark Priftis Art. I learned of this show first from an ad on craigslist, it was titled 'Fuck Art in the Harbor' I took it as a jab at Baltimore but, based on the description, it seemed like a solid idea. So at the opening theses 2 guys were extruding sausage links made from fiberglass insulation and olive oil and stacking them around a pile of hot dog buns into an igloo shape.

They were immersed in this process but I did have a few issues. Their outfits were not completely intact and the whole time I was there a videographer was all up on them taping there performance. I guess I could except that, documentation is important, but they were chatting and laughing with him at length. I liked what they were doing but they weren't really in character and the illusion was broken. To their credit they had been at it for a couple of hours but Abramovic wouldn't give up after a mere two hours...

Where are you now??? Andrew Zientek and Dave Williams also at Clark Priftis Art

Echo Chamber...

Friday January 14, 2011 Jordan Tierney and Geoff Grace filled the amain gallery at School 33.
This is a great show and everyone should go see it!

Jordan is an exquisite craftsperson. She is committed to every detail in her work and it shows. Her work is infused with genuine emotion and emits a sense of loss and possibly some yearning as well. The work is a bit dark but simultaneously is full of satisfaction It's as if one is accepting a large sacrifice that has been made for a greater cause or being, which in this case would be the sea.

Geoff's work is pretty sweet as well. Upon entering the gallery we are confronted with a large 'skeleton' Possibly a mammoth or an elephant, I'm not sure. Most of his work is photo based and I will admit is a bit quiet next to Jordan's. There was a striking wall of frames filled with black and white butterflies. It was not obvious to me if these were photos or drawings...

Jordan Tierney

Geoff Grace

Jordan Tierney

Don't worry Scoob'...

I got your back!!!

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