ERIKETA COST
Assistant Life & Arts Editor
The new exhibition at the Cathy and Jessie Marion Art Gallery is all about challenging the artistic canon.
“Artists as Innovators” features artists of today who strive to innovate in several different ways through their artwork.
The exhibition celebrates three decades of the New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship (NYSCA/NYFA), which is passionate about challenging the cultural canon of art that society has known for so many years.
Some of the pieces are innovative in ways that expand boundaries physically.
“Much of the work in the exhibition is very large, even the photographs,” said gallery director Barbara Räcker. “We could not get the crates holding the Ross Bleckner (contemporary American artist) paintings in the building. We had to uncrate them in Central Receiving and transport them one-by-one (still wrapped in plastic) back to the Rockefeller Arts Center in a truck. They barely fit diagonally through the loading dock door next to the gallery.”
Räcker also offered some insight into how a “feminist perspective” is used in some of the artwork.
“Feminist artists often embrace alternative materials that are connected to the female gender to create their work,” she said.
Artist Faith Ringgold used a quilt as the medium in which she creates a piece that represents all three of her identities: African American, female and artist.
Shinique Smith’s work was also featured in the exhibition.
She used her childhood clothing, bedding, a stuffed animal, ribbon and rope to create “Miracle,” a piece that was influenced by her childhood, as well as Japanese calligraphy and expressionism.
Smith works to use these different mediums to reflect on all the physical possessions humans can consume and discard throughout a lifetime.
Räcker also described how the goal of feminist artists is to influence cultural attitudes and transform stereotypes.
An example of this in the exhibition can be seen through Chitra Ganesh’s work, whose pieces strive to embed feminist and queer sensibility.
Ganesh described the subjects she creates as “junglee” and “of the jungle;” phrases to describe devious women who defy convention.
She also described how she draws inspiration from “mythological narratives, present day imperialism and queer politics, old Bollywood images and songs, lyric poetry, and erased moments in South Asian history.”
Other pieces in the exhibition are inventive in ways that bring light and awareness to members of society of different economic statuses who face adversities that come with it.
Dawoud Bey’s portraits “Ebony” and “Kenneth” feature students with autobiographical quotes underneath.
After spending a few weeks in the school with the kids, Bey observed each student’s posture, personality and character to capture each portrait of the student.
The portraits offer a more gritty perspective on the American teen, rather than the glamorized or unrealistic one that society may be so used to.
Artists like Andre Serrano demonstrate how inspiration can be drawn from older art forms, like Renaissance and Dadaism, while introducing new modern ideas and challenges.
For example, his piece “Precious Blood” of 1989 offers imagery of human blood, but in a light or angle that would perhaps challenge one’s associations or immediate responses to it.
The opening reception for the exhibition had brought out a few non-art majors, including junior journalism major Sandrene Hamilton.
“I have been to other events of the gallery, and honestly this one was the best one that I’ve been to,” said Hamilton. “I feel like the artists gave it their all with each piece. You can tell these artists were very committed and dedicated with their time and work.”
The exhibition is open for viewing from now until Mar. 10 in the Cathy and Jessie Marion Art Gallery.