A BIG IDEA WITH A
A LOOK AT THE TEXAS BIENNIAL
March 6, 2005 - With a lot of fanfare, press and attention from all
sorts of Texans involved in the arts, the Texas Biennial took its
opening strides this week at a bunch of venues strewn about Austin.
Sharing a studio with the co-founders of the event, the Sodalitas
crew, I caught my share of some of the frustrations, worries and
anticipation for the show. I kept my distance, and walked
through the show's opening week to see just what was happening in
the arts across this not so little state. I'd have to say, as
group shows go, this show had a curious energy that I enjoyed. |
Biennial Co-Founder Shea Little shares a laugh at
Camp Fig with yours truly.
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The opening night was the Daugherty, and with a cast of regular art
viewing Austinites supplemented by a bunch of new faces, the gallery was
abuzz. As the openings continued, from Camp Fig to the East Austin
Artists Coop, Bolm Studios and a finale at Gallery Lombardi, the
enthusiasm and momentum continued through the week, and splitting the
show between the venues seemed to create a buzz and a sense of wonder as
each new night of openings occurred. I thought all the spaces were
well utilized, with each space covered in a varying amount of work that
felt pretty close to right in all locations. Poor Camp Fig's space
was a little crowded, more from physical limitations than the art, and
the artwork at Bolm was cautiously walking the line of overwhelming the
viewers, at least on the opening nights.
The juror's choices seemed adequate and well rounded, with some exciting
work that soothed my soul and other pieces that seemed forced or made
the cut to follow along with the traditions of the blockbuster modern
biennial experience - haphazard video pieces, some art that tread too
closely to postmodernist thoughts that have been done already, and some conceptual art
that didn't appeal to my sensibilities at all. Most of the work
seemed fresher and more vigorous than last year's disappointing
New American Talent show at the Austin's Arthouse, which seemed like
an attempt to catalog all the traits and curiosities of the past forty
years of art that neither exposed anything new nor presented much that
carried much heart.
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Nina Rizzo
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I was mostly attuned to the paintings
in the show, and there were three artists that stuck out the most:
Janaki Lennie,
Nina Rizzo, and Susan Cheal. Janaki's paintings of urban
landscapes, which appears almost entirely devoid of imagery until
you notice the clump of tree branches, light towers or buildings
lodged and cropped off a corner of the painting carried a strong
sense of place by barely even touching upon it. Her paint
handling when she did come across the objects was exceptional, and
the set of three works displayed was very complimentary and
presented a unified sense of vision and acumen.
Nina Rizzo's paintings were more irregular and offbeat, with
interesting spaces, paint application and dreamy mazelike quality
that made them interesting objects to attempt to navigate and
disseminate. The painting rarely allowed the viewer a reprieve
in its mass of spaces, structures and forms, and the challenge was
fun and intriguing. I wasn't entirely sold on the addition of
glitter to her works, but otherwise was a fun and interesting set of
paintings. |
| Susan Cheal's painting at Gallery
Lombardi was the single work that stole my heart. I stood and
stared with Rachel Koper for ten minutes as we took in her luscious
paint, flowing forms, and inviting and personal color palette.
In person, the cool blue-greens and marshmallow yellow seemed so
right, and an orange beamed through the painting in various spots
that added a new layer to her painterly and worked style that seemed
to flow with ease around DeKooning and slight touches on what seemed
to be a disguised pop imagery lurking just below the surface of the
painting. I walked through the gallery again and felt
compelled to take a look at this work again, it drew me in again and
again. I liked some of the other work as well, at Bolm, Young-Min
Kang's overwhelming dimensional pixilated street scene was stunning,
but seemed cramped and betrayed slightly by its construction and
technique. Peat Duggin's large paintings were a vivid
reminder of his tremendous solo show at the
Fresh Up Club last summer.
Camp Fig hosted a few paintings by Heyd Fontenot that were well
representative of his work and the humor of them stood out in the small space.
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Susan Cheal
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Of course there was some work that I didn't particularly care for, but
the few bright spots that shined were pretty memorable. Having put
together various
shows
myself, I have experienced
on a much smaller scale the politics, worries and criticisms that come
from all sides. The show seemed to have a standard mix of various
mediums, but spread through the different venues felt a bit fresh.
I think small things that could have been helpful was more information
about each artist, or at least a hometown designation next to each
piece. A statement from the jurors on the website or available to
read in the galleries would also be an interesting read. I'm
particularly supportive of this initiative because it started at the
artist level and grew. It's stimulating to see artist run efforts
blossom on a larger scale, and to take the Biennial and build it out of
artist run alternative spaces as well as a few established galleries.
Overall, the experience was exhilarating and worth the tremendous effort
put in by the various forces that combined to put the show together.
I heard all the grumblings about the show -
ridiculous concerns about the entry
fee, too many artists from Austin, none from Dallas, not enough from this or that,
no real catalog and the like. The only thing that really bothered
me was the seemingly arbitrary nature of the juror's awards. I
felt there was much stronger work on the walls than the pieces that were
selected.
A Texas Biennial was attempted a
couple times before, it'd be a shame if this a tradition that was not
kept up.
Comments?
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