local ephemera: BBQ & PBR

There was smell of BBQ wafting through the air and I knew I had arrived at the "Sunday Southern Art Revival" show at Whitespace gallery, which opened Friday night.

The show was a result of six artists, Jessie Cregar, George Long, Scott Pethia, Mario Schambon, and TindelMichi, who have been getting together on Sundays to collaborate on works of art. I liked their #1 rule for the get-togethers: they "Must always have fun". The show was predominantly paintings of layered imagery, each artists adding different techniques and materials, along with one very interesting sculpture:

Despite the name, I did not find the collaborative paintings particularly "Southern" in subject matter, instead the real connection to the south seemed to be the locale of the artists themselves. The paintings, for me, spoke greatly of Atlanta and the culture residing in the downtown neighborhoods. The work seemed completely at home in a gallery located in Inman Park and only a few miles from Krog tunnel. The paintings are heavily influenced by graffiti and urban culture and glorify the beauty found in the interesting layering of graffiti over time as different people add to a wall, turning a singular expression into something more collaborative and more expressive.

I particularly like the painting "Portrait of John Currin" by Jessie Cregar, though it was a bit different in style and did not necessarily fit with the rest of the show. Nevertheless, it was a portrait of an ostrich-brain with one leg and one arm and I imagine they couldn't resist including it - and I don't blame them:

Turns out the BBQ aroma was coming from a four tiered fountain of BBQ sauce that had a lava lamp inside of it. People were chomping down on BBQ and drinking PBR and all seemed just right - the strange infusion that is Atlanta -only Susan Bridges would let Southern boys truly infiltrate the gallery scene.