Sara La at Zeitgeist

There are several worthy shows opening this weekend in Nashville, it being the first weekend of the month and all. Sara La has new work at Zeitgeist, and that's the one I'm looking forward to the most. Not everything she does works for me, but when she's on I think she's dead on. The pieces I've responded most strongly have had her Chinese heritage as the first layer content, although what appealed to me as form and a very touching mingling of frailty and strength. There's another more surrealistic thread in her work, and some of those pieces haven't done it for me. But because of the quality in other places, I'm always interested in taking a look -- I'm convinced her paintings in that vein will start to register with me. It looks like that's what is in this Zeitgeist show (this one below is called "Ward"), so I'm hoping this will be the time it all comes together.














Zeitgeist is doing their opening on Saturday night, like all the downtown places. Some of that looks good, like Connie Noyes at Estel, which I did a pick on for the Scene, and Kristina Arnold at Twist. which Joe Nolan wrote up. For the last couple of years, Kristina has been undergoing big life events like getting married, getting step kids, moving to Bowling Green. It's great the way she processes these things into her work. Her installation at the Tennesse Arts Commission (a year and a half ago?) was much about moving to Kentucky--bubble wrap figured prominently. The Twist exhibit is called Twins and apparently takes up her evolving role as stepmom. I'm sure her previous work had personal narratives entwined in it, but what struck me then was the voice of the former biomedical researcher. I saw the pieces as more analytical, almost scientific expressions. Now the personal narrative is impossible to miss.