Czech It Easy

Here's a look at Beep Beep's latest show of pen and ink on paper drawings by artists Zarlacc and Harrison Keys.


The artist had also taken to drawing and painting on the gallery walls, which seems to be all the rage these days, but in this show it worked particularly well, unifying the salon style display of drawings in a wide assortment of frames and sizes. The interior of the gallery space was more successfully activated than I have seen in previous shows and worked well with the "doodle-fun" attitude of the exhibition.

Indeed

The show is in its last days before Beep Beep's next opening Sat May 31st. Check it while you can.

The Waters of Lethe

Richard Sudden "Xin's House"

If you've got a free second, pay a visit to "Xin's House."

Sitting in Susan's side yard, twenty feet from Whitespace, it does not get any more tranquil than this.

The Zennest spot in Inman Park. It's a transportable sanctuary for meditation, prayer, incense burning, picture taking.

I missed the opening, but apparently people were spending up to half an hour alone in here. The opening sounded like an incredible experience, candles everywhere, and an installation that elicited strong emotion from the audience, becoming an almost a spiritual experience for some.

"Xin's House" is a side project for Richard Sudden's show "For the Waters of Lethe," an interesting step forward after his last installation "The Wreathmaker" at Whitespace in 2005. "Wreathmaker" was a political statement about the Iraq war, and involved Sudden creating a plaster wreaths inside the gallery as a memorial for each soldier killed. "Lethe" is both a more personal body of work for Sudden, and also more removed in the sense that the artist's process is not on display but instead the finished works are presented in a sombre yet theatrical display that can be disarming in its dark solemnity.

The theme of the show is based off of the mythical River of Lethe and Sudden's struggle to reach an understanding of his mother's battle with Alzheimer's disease. The show poses the question, among many, "what does any of it mean if you cannot remember the ones you love?"

It's a horrific thing to deal with, if you sit in a dark gallery space and allow yourself to imagine life without memory, or losing someone else to this.

The focal point of the show is a film Sudden created, illustrating a fable of a goddess in love with a mortal and the souls that refuse to give up memory and spend eternity walking the banks of the River of Lethe.

The theme of the river continues in the many kayak shaped sculptures which Sudden created for the installation. Each one is an impressive bit of craftsmanship, the result of having brothers and a father who are all "river runners," and experienced in making kayaks and canoes.

One of the original plaster wreaths is included in the show, identifying another connection between Sudden's previous and current installations. In "The Wreathmaker" each wreath represented a remembrance and now Sudden is revisiting the complexity of memory itself, from it's mythological definition to various three dimensional representations of the mind's interwoven thoughts.

"Laws of Nature" Vines and Pendulum

And the wreath shape is echoed again in dried vines surrounding a pendulum.

More video is used concurrently with the kayak sculptures to expand the space, coming across as portals into abstracted thoughts or snippets of memory.

Left to Right, "Concept/Gravity," "Nest," "Body of Light," "Winter Solstace"

Nests, hives, branches, weights,

"Concept/Gravity"

The work is laden with personal symbolism for Sudden

"Nest"

and left up to the viewer to decipher

"Winter Solstace"

or more likely translate into their own understanding.

The adjoining Whitespec space is displaying a series of encaustic on Braille paper pieces by Sudden that seem to be further meditations on the concepts of the installation.

"Waters of Lethe" Encaustic on Braille paper

"Burned" Encaustic on Braille paper

"Leaving Troy" Encaustic on Braille paper

Show up at Whitespace until June 21st 2008. Pictures do it no justice, go check this show out and let me know if your thoughts - I'm curious to hear other interpretations of the cryptic symbolism.

This American Life

Here's a look at Savannah artist Marcus Kenney's excellent new show "Midnight in America" currently on view at Marcia Wood Gallery. The painting to the far right is called "War on Terror (Ain't Nothin' But a Party Ya'll)." I feel like this title gets to the heart of the slap stick funny and forebodingly dark tone of the work, taking aim at the current social state and shaky politics of the US of A.

"Young Americans II" mixed media sculpture 2008

The show is primarily two dimensional collaged paintings along with some figures brought into the three dimensional through the same technique of layering paper and objects. Hair made out of cigarette filters and an African American girl wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the face of George Washington.

"War on Terror (Ain't Nothin' But a Party Ya'll)" 2007 detail

With the high level of detail, each piece warrants and second and third look. Each two dimensional work is a heavy layering of cut paper with paint often added on top.

"War on Terror (Ain't Nothin' But a Party Ya'll)" 2007 detail

The images seem to be gathered from any and every source, from children's illustrations to wall paper patterns, the works are a sort of accumulation of printed detritus, Kenney building up an amusing reflection of our culture using our very own trash - or to be more poetic - stitching together a cautionary tale from the remnants of our discarded social fabric.

"Farewell to Illusions" 2007

While the socially conscious will see the dead canary in the collaged paper, the work remains primarily amusing. This lies partly in the cartoonish style of the imagery and partly in Kenney's choice of using children as the primary subjects in the work.

This focus on kids in discussing the current state of America hints at Kenney's possible anxiety with the future, a fear over what social and political legacy will be left to the coming generation of leaders or perhaps a guilt associated with the franchised culture engulfing these current toddlers.

"Linkin II" 2008

But just as easily, these paintings relish the complexities of our culture, the bumps in the road of our history, and the even deeper pot holes of our current administration. Much like Kenney enjoys an almost chaotically busy tableaux, his intrigue rests in the clash - not disdainful but fascinated by the layers, by an impending explosion.

"The New Communism" 2008

The show is an almost overwhelming visual fest and reviewing my photographs later made it easier to digest. By isolating certain paintings for viewing, the level of extraordinary detail in the each work becomes apparent. These works hold their own individually, as I have seen on Josh's living room wall, at least when his piece isn't being borrowed by the Savannah museum of art.

"Be Careful What You Call Home" 2008

This piece is intense. The food stamps reading like colorful tiles in the background as the African American figure sips her patriotically striped drink, pondering the bleak landscape, laden by a floral print housecoat, and exuding the regal poise of a stately portrait.

While the work is as visually inviting as sweet sweet candy, Kenney gives no easy answers, no place to take shelter, every inch of each panel is shouting it's own contradictory story.

"Defend Boundaries, Establish Validity" 2007


"Lotto" 2008

Someone could write a twenty page essay this painting alone.

"State of Nature" 2007

"State of Nature" 2007 detail

Speaking of writing, Cinque wrote a little gem on this show for Creative Loafing.

"Eye of the Needle" 2007 and "Almanac" 2007

The "Eye of the Needle" was an interest step outside of the insular American issues (such as race, politics, and materialism) to poke fun at the economic ties between America and India.

"Complete Protection From the Hate Advance" 2008

"This is Us (Who R We, What R We, Where R We Going)" 2008

Kenney also broaden the scope of the show with "This is Us," both in scale and in dealing more directly with the manipulation of a historical portraits.

"This is Us (Who R We, What R We, Where R We Going)" 2008 detail

The show "Midnight in America" is up through May 24th 2008. This show is a must see in person to really appreciate it.