This being the first weekend of the month, a bunch of galleries are opening new shows (a couple of things will hit next week). Here’s the highlights. Unless otherwise noted, the receptions are Saturday night in the 6-9ish range.
Twist: Lauren Kussro, A Handful of Tranquility. This is an installation piece, lotus flowers cut from paper hanging all over the place, if she installs it like the previous installation in her pictures. She has strong spiritual aspirations for the piece, referring to it as a “tangible prayer” (nice phrase). Like most installations that work out a single sculptural idea through the whole space, it may or may not hold up under scrutiny and longer contemplation. There’s undoubtedly an immediate éclat from the transformation of the space, but does it communicate further and feedback on itself interpretively? Is there a pay off from looking at the details, or do you just need to step back, take it in, and move on? A piece like this may be better used than observed, going to it as a special meditation space. Then the question comes of how well you can use a public gallery (as opposed to a chapel) for that purpose. We’ll see.
TAG: Lori Field and Julia Martin. If you go to Twist, you will go to TAG as well. Of these two artists, I think (you never know until you see things in the flesh) I’ll end being more engaged by Lori Field, who makes effusive and ornate drawings/collages of women and children. The images look like characters from fairy tales or mythical beings. I don’t know if Jerry Dale is keeping those Chris Dean lenticular pieces on display in the smaller room, but I hope so—they are a trip, and I bet he’s selling some.
Dangenart: Curious Interplay by the Off the Wall group. Same comment as TAG—if you make it up the stairs to Twist, you’ll go to Daniel’s place, and vice versa. OK, this is significant for a couple of reasons. First of all, the Off the Wall group usually does one-night shows, and this puts them on gallery walls for three weeks/four weekends (I think they’ve done a longer term coffee shop show, maybe at Frothy Monkey). So you can see it if you can’t make it out Sat., and you can go back. Secondly, it looks like Iwonka Waskowski is going to exhibit some of the drawings on clayboard she showed at the drawing show at Kristi Hargrove’s studio. These pieces are fantastic. You’ve also got Jaime Raybin, who just had her senior show at Watkins and whose work registered with me a lot more there, probably from seeing more of it and who knows, maybe some advancement in her work (could it be you actually learn something in art school? Not according to Daniel Clowes, but…). And the rest of this crew (Mahlea Jones, Janet Heilbronn, Jenny Baggs, Quinn Dukes) have work that sounds interesting in one way or the other.
Arts Company has their reception in the afternoon (4-7). This month features Cynthia Crook (landscapes of places like
Franne Lee has a solo show opening at the Family Wash on Sunday from 5 to 8. It’s a series of 15 portraits of people in Easy Nashville. Sounds nice, especially for people from the neighborhood.
Next week a few more things open. Like Kate McSpadden’s Hamblett show at Vandy.
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