Beyond the Norm: An International Juried Print Exhibition

http://galleries.illinoisstate.edu/exhibitions/

Beyond the Norm: An International Juried Print Exhibition is a print exhibition organized by N.E.W being showcased in University Galleries at ISU, with three other exhibitions, as well as for other locations (McLean County Arts Center, Jan Brandt Gallery, and Transpace Gallery). It featured over 50 artist from North America personally selected by juror Susan Tallman (critic, author, and art historian at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago). The exhibition includes contemporary printmaking like lithography, intaglio, screen, woodcut, and even video. The exhibition begins as soon as you enter the gallery and wraps all the way around the right side of the building. The prints are all placed in rows while others are hanging above of others. Most of the prints were eye level or a little above eye level. 

Having worked with different types of print making before attending this exhibition I was already interested. I liked seeing all the different types of print and how different but similar each piece was. There were a few in particular that really caught my eye. 

Kristen Powers Nowlin
Designed to Endure : Quick(en) Opportunity
Woodcut
2014

Designed to Endure: Quick(en) Opportunity by Kristen Powers Nowlin at first is a woodcut print of a Detroit street corner but after some research I learned that it is much deeper than that. Most of Kristen's art has to do with race, stereotypes, and the relationships groups of people have with each other. "For the past twenty years, my work has dealt with issues of race and gender... The work challenges the way American culture perceives and judges groups of people, as well as the way groups of people interact with one another. While some pieces intentionally and consciously use stereotypes as a critique of their absurdity, others explore the issues through personal narratives "(kristinnowlin.com/). Kristen's work clearly represents that in every way possible. Designed to Endure: Quick(en) Opportunity seems to be a relation between the "hierarchy" of wealth in Detroit. As I take a closer look at the woodcut it is a representation of the split in community and race. There are small hints like in the bottom right where you can see a cracked/old side walk while on the other side there is a very clean and new side walk (separation of race: Black bottom right while whites are on the top left). There are also bigger showcases of this concept. The police car right next to the run down building compared to the luxury black car waiting outside of the luxury building for the many people grouped outside waiting to be taken somewhere. This piece highlights exactly what Kristen has been doing for the past twenty years. 

Frances AshforthPyrocumulus, Carbon BlackMonotype2014

Pyrocumulus, Carbon Black by Frances Ashforth is a black and white monotype is a print of a pyrocumulus cloud. A pyrocumulous cloud is a cloud formed from intense heating of air (volcanic eruptions, forest fires). Ashforth grew up in New Hampshire on his grandparent's farm, which, he says, "allowed me to cultivate my view and fascination with the horizon line and its relationship between land, water & sky" (http://francesbashforth.com/information/about/). This explains why he made a print of the horizon and how he did it. I can't help but notice how everything in the print seems to blend together. He also talks about how the world moves at an extreme pace and maybe the extreme weather he portrays in this piece reflects that. 

Dana Tosic
Artifact #4
Serigraph
2016

Artifact #4 by Dana Tosic is a Serigraph print of what seems to be an abstract image of hands holding/pulling on something. Dana's work always seems to reflect everyday tasks and the time associated with them as well as in between them. Which is what I believe this piece to be as well. I can't seem to put my hand on exactly what it is suppose to represent but the piece caught my eye and I could look at it for days trying to figure out what exactly it is about. 

Beyond the Norm: An International Juried Print Exhibition was a great exhibition. I enjoyed every piece there, but these three in particular was what caught my eye. Even though each piece was different and came from the hands of a different artist with a different background they all seem to have similar quality in some way other than the medium, but I can't seem to put my finger on it. 

Danny Volk

"Social art"

Danny Volk

made-up w/ Danny Volk 

Danny Volk is a Chicago based artist with a background in theater and acting. He is most known for his show on Youtube made-up w/ Danny Volk, where he goes to different artist studios, asks them about their work and life while they attempt to do Danny's make up. Danny's art is unique in the sense that he works with people in all his projects, but they might not necessarily know that he is doing it or what exactly he is doing. I think of it as "social art". All of his art has a social aspect to it whether its online or in person for example DVNY. Danny decided he would pretend to be some other Danny Volk (who didn't have an Instagram at the time) on Instagram.

Danny Volk - The Gap Project

Danny Volk - The Gap Project "stories"

DVNY was almost a performance in a sense. He played the character of the rich, happy Danny Volk. Danny seemed to say it was all about the documentation and the reactions of the "audience" (the other Danny's friends/followers), but at the same time he really didn't know who his audience was. When he started to become this character, of sorts, he started to gain followers he didn't know (the other Danny's friends and family). All of this just ended up ending in the "audience" figuring out that it wasn't really the Danny they thought it was, which actually is actually hilarious now that I think about it. As funny as that project sounded Danny has also done some projects where he tries to physically interact with people. The Gap project, in simple form, was Danny working on the sales floor at a Gap, but he wanted it to become something that could establish relationships with people. Danny tried his best to create small one on one relationships and reactions from people. He did it any way he thought he could. Danny would even use physical touch to get a reaction out of people or some type of feed back. He would write down his encounters every time he had one and saved each one. The physical touch seems to be a re-occurring theme. In made-up w/ Danny Volk, Danny makes artists put make up on him in their studio while he asks them questions. Its kind of intrusive in a way as if he is trying to get a reaction out of them, "I wanted to defamiliarize their own studio..."

Danny Volk is interesting and refreshing. He seems to take social situations and make them into art. He takes everyday social situations and just by writing them down and analyzing them makes them intriguing. He takes normal everyday chores like applying make up to create a "defamiliarizing" environment. He is just different, but in a good way.  

Catch            

Spray paint on PVC-coated canvas tarpaulin, fan, and nylon rope

2016

University Galleries ISU

In Catch Claire Ashley creates a child like environment where viewers are bombarded with color, shape, form, and comfort. The piece is placed in the center of the large well-lit room with spherical pillow like sculptures hanging in a net of yellow rope. The sculptures, made out of PVC-coated canvas tarpaulin, are bursting out of the holes in the net. Each inflatable is shaped in its own unique way while familiar pastel colors are softly applied to each of them using spray paint.   

Ashley incorporates line into her three dimensional piece in many ways. She uses rope to create a net that holds the piece together, which can be interpreted as motherly support for the structure. She also uses the folds and creases to create lines along the surface of each form within the net making each sculpture seem human in a way. As each crease would represent maybe a fold in skin or stretch marks. An x seems to repeat throughout this piece as well as others in her exhibition. In her piece Bugs, she uses them to represent eyes, while in this piece she places them randomly throughout.  

Using PVC-coated canvas Ashley creates all kinds of figures and shapes, some simple blobs while others seem to have more specific forms. Some even seem human like with skin folds and limbs.  She creates this by creasing the PVC-coated canvas in different areas stiches or patches those areas, which creates different lines and shapes.

Ashley doesn’t seem to incorporate much lighting into this work, but the room was very well lit from the florescent lights above the piece and the large windows to the right as you enter. There is very little shadow in the piece other than the very little inside the pile of sculptures.

Catch is full of high value and a mix of primary and secondary pastel colors. The colors on the piece are all pastel or neon colors. Each color is applied very carefully using spray paint to give the forms a very soft feel, which again makes me think of childhood or an Easter theme.

Speaking of the texture, each form looked as if it was a fluffy pillow with extremely soft fabric. The spray paint was applied almost in a tie-die pattern giving the piece a very mellow and happy look.

Ashley uses the space in a very creative way. Knowing that she couldn’t put every individual piece in the exhibition she decided to put them all into one. As one of the bigger pieces in the exhibition it takes up a large amount of space and not just vertically but horizontally as well. As the center of the room it is clear she wanted most of the attention on this piece out of all the rest. Space is also used inside the piece itself. The net holding all the sculptures is very small compared to the size of the sculptures. So each sculpture is almost bursting out of the net trying to get free.

Ashley’s piece is a great display of design, creativity, and imagery. Catch is a very well balanced piece with soft child like colors and forms. Knowing that Ashley is a mother and she created the child like theme throughout the exhibition I want to conclude that she was trying to create something to do with her motherhood.  A toy box first comes to mind.  The yellow net represents a box full of toys, but I thought more about motherhood and I thought of a metaphorical womb. Some of the sculptures seem to have limbs on the end giving them a life like form. Each sculpture also seems to be trying to break out of the net holding them back. Maybe this represents her hesitation to let her children go, or let them leave the nest if you will.