Force of Nature an Exhibition  of students Transpace Gallery Illinois State University Center for the Visual Arts Room115 October 11, 5-7 pm .

Fig. 1.1 Alissa Palmer, Torso I and II

The Force of Nature exhibit is a series of prints Graduate and Undergraduate students with similar  degrees of skill level.  I have chosen to review 2 prints that have captured my attention. Upon observing their work the different styles and concepts I was left rather inspired with a these prints still in my mind..  One of which are two prints by Alissa Palmer entitled Smudged Torso I and II fig.1.1 done on  Monotype and Conte Force of Nature An Exhibition 2016. These pieces are two separate prints displayed one on top of the other in a vertical manner.  They rely on on another and yet contrast with regards to space.  They both render a certain feel of femininity.  When viewing these prints one can get the since of softness as the form of a woman who is not of the typical model physique with girth reminiscent to  that of a model from the renaissance era.  The artist intentionally juxtaposed both prints in efforts to entice the viewer in getting a better pictorial view of the implementation of positive and negative spaces or maybe give us a idea of the process involved.  Both images bare the same kinship but yet contrast in various ways. The most obvious is contrast is color. In Torso 2, the artist added color in efforts to  give the viewer a different prospective of how to manipulate positive and negative space as contrary to that of  Torso 1 which is displayed on the bottom moving the viewers from top to bottom the back to the top after reading the text.  Torso I, reads as an attempt to capture the image in a more sensual setting like a private, dark area with  the light source being the moon peering form a window to the right.  By doing this it gave the piece a more representational legitimacy instead of just a composition on positive and negative space .  Upon viewing Torso II, I could imagine the softness in her flesh.  In these prints the artist was able to accomplish her goal by meshing the two contrasting applications of the medium.  Torso II moved me in that respect,  however I was able to feel that attachment because of the applied color..  Both piece were successful in its attempt to evoke certain emotions from this viewer.

Fig. 1.2 Jackson Ikert Skull

     In the print entitled  Skull,  fig 1.2 by Jackson Ikerts on Monotype, Force of Nature An Exhibition 2016.  This print embodied the theme of the exhibit Force Of Nature.  Ikert took the form of a human skull and gave it life.  His choice of using non-local colors added to the realism of this piece for I no longer viewed this piece as a simple image of a skull. The color gave this print a name.  I had images of poverty stricken Ethiopia or the sufferations of a person or of a peoples  By exposing 3/4 of the skull with the mouth or teeth portion absent implied a since silence or imposed silence. The bronze color contrasting with black rendered a certain darkness experienced by a culture.  This print used its colors with variations of a bronze hues to allow the viewer to determine whether the skull has flesh on it or if it is just the aftermath of life.  Ikert composing the majority of the image  at the lower portion of the paper gives the dual impression of either ascending from the earth or depressing into the earth enhanced the balance of the over all print. These two prints intrigued me the most because its form.  I am interested the the human anatomy because it epitomizes life.  In both of the prints the artists were able to evoke deep emotional and psychological experiences from me.

Barry Blinderman curator at University Galleries lecture on the New York City Art Arra of the late 70's and 80's.  Illinois State University Center for the Visual Arts room 133, 18 October 2016 1700 hrs.
     Barry attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and was the Director of Semaphore Gallery in Soho, New York the city's visual arts district.  Barry began his lecture by setting a backdrop of who his influences were. One of which was  Leo Steinberg who wrote the book “Other Criteria”. Barry spoke of  how Leo had such a profound impact on his  life as a curator.

     Barry lectured on how life was in New York during the late 70’s early 80’s with regards to the social,economic and geographic aspects of the times referencing the East Village.  He quoted a headline from the New York Times that read “Ford Says No To New York.” meaning president Ford was denying aid to the city New York due to its economic deprivation.  Some of the photos that we viewed showed the city in a light reminiscent to that of the early migration of European immigrants to the US during and after the reconstruction period. 

Barry Blinderman  lecturer

 

     Barry, in 1981 curated a show, The Anxious Figure, which reflected figurations by Keith Haring, Robert Longo, John Ahearn, Jedd Garet and Ed  Paschke.  In his lecture he spoke of the art scene in New York City during what I perceived as a rather aggressive artistic period for art.  I use the term aggressive in the context of how the artists would display their work and have exhibitions were done. A lot of the artwork was created in the streets, on abandoned buildings, galleries and nightclubs just everywhere.  I admired how artists would just wire up a building from an external source with electricity and exhibit.  In my visits to New York I can remember parties or as we called them sets being held in such a manner in boroughs like the Bronx and Brooklyn.  

Time Square Show advertisement

     Barry spoke of the collaborative efforts of the street and formally trained artists from that era as well. He mentioned the Time Square Show which featured personalities such as David Hammons, John Ahearn, and Diego Cortez aka Jim Curtis, just to name a few. It’s intriguing how each style influenced one another's artistic perspective. It is my opinion that the Times Square Show established a template for collaboration and the merging of two styles while addressing a larger audience that was the downtown art scene of New York during this period in the 1980's.  It is the Time Square Show that really struck a chord with me exhibiting different genres of art including the Hip-Hop scene from the Bronx with which I embraced as my time as a DJ during this era.  

        This period of the New York art scene  happened to be my military years so I wasn’t able to be emerged in art to its fullest capacity . Though I was a artist when I went into the military I was not one while I was in the service.  My mentality at that time was consumed with learning the art of how to kill or the art of war.  I could barely focus on my skills as a DJ. I was able to appreciate the Break dancers or B-Boys and the artful way the Dj's would manipulate the music by using the technique of "scratching." In a since I guess I was loosely involved with the art culture of  New York.  However, I did take a few trips to New York to buy the latest rap album for my DJ-ing.  On my visits I would be awe struck by the graffiti on the walls of buildings, trains and in the subway tunnels. It impressed me how the people of the streets were able to use whatever means they could to express their artistic points of view.  It is my only regret that I was not attuned the New York art world at such a vibrant time. It would have been great to know such an artist as Jean Michel Basquiat and to view his work in person and to kick it with Fab 5 Freddie while he was painting burners on the walls and subway cars.
     It was an honor and a pleasure to hear first-hand from Barry Blinderman, an actual player in the New York City art world.  His testimony of  this period in time really resonated in my psyche' the total impacted the New York City art scene had on the world.

Barrymore A. Moton Art 281 .Jason Judd instructor. Building Space the Objects of Adam G. Perchbacher. "A Discordant Rhythm" (2016) by Adam G. Perchbacher 5'x4.5' acrylic on wood painting. Viewed at the Contemporary Art Center Peoria, Illinois 5 October 2016.

Fig 1.1 "A Discordant Rhythm,"

Adam Perchbacher painting "A Discordant Rhythm,"  is a piece that mounts on the wall and is raised approx, 4 to 6 inches in various areas from the surface of the wall. Adam views himself as a graphic designer by profession. His efforts in this minimalist geometrical piece were not in vain. This painting can currently be viewed at the Contemporary Art Center on Water St. in Peoria, Il.  

Perchbacher’s painting implemented the use of local colors trimmed in white to create a border that carries the eyes threw each shape as if they were penetrating the boundaries in an attempt to assist each other to maintain its pictorial balance. Much of what he has created in this piece gives indication of a geometrical abstract thought process. The piece is entitled "A Discordant Rhythm," When looking at this painting from a frontal perspective you could see how he has placed a series of triangles in the form of what looks like dominoes knocking into one another in a inharmonious fashion. Hence, the term discordant.  The painting looks very liner upon sight but as you begin to walk closer to it you will find that it has a rather aesthetic three dimensional quality. As you view the triangular shapes and how they are arranged the Giza Pyramids come to mind.

The pyramid is usually a symbol of a structure with a solid foundation that is perfectly balanced and can withstand the most aggressive of times;  However, in this piece each triangle is very dependent upon one another to maintain its rhythmic structural balance. they seems to rely on the mother triangle (the black shape on the left) to hold everything up or to keep things together. Upon walking to the sides of this painting I noticed how each triangle varied in height but was in geometrical unison with each structure to give a precise architectural framework to it.

Perchbacher has several other painting of this magnitude in this exhibition but I believe that it was the triangles or what I perceived as pyramids that captured my attention. They served as a metaphor for how the Giza Pyramids have managed to stay in existence and maintain its spiritual balance with the universe for thousands of years in spite of being exploited, vandalized and it significance virtually forgotten by a greater portion of today's materialistic environment.