art beat / By Jennifer Savage

Relevance, Rebellion and Redemption

Note: The gallery also stocks cards by local treasure Rachel K. Schlueter. If you can’t afford one of her paintings, you can still buy a small print to treasure.

Over at Little Shop of Hers, owned by Monster Women frontwoman Courtney Jaxon, paintings by the Journal‘s 2010 winner of “Best Observer of Eureka Street Life” Jesse Weidel hang above the tempting boots and wild vintage wear. Please note a new favorite in the row of chronicled decay — you’ll know it by its fjords. (We evaded a block-long samba/drum line to duck into the store. Eureka’s Arts Alive! continues to up the fun quotient month after month.)

More fine work by the usual suspects is displayed at First Street Gallery’s alumni show. Check out “Gravity” by Erin Whitman. The artist’s vantage point lies at the foot of the bed. We’re treated to feet, legs, a bit of arm, all intertwined in white sheets that make the depiction of the flesh so much more powerful. The subject sleeps, but the painting vibrates with wakefulness.

When we observe art — paintings, sculptures, mixed-media installations, even songs and the written word — we relate to it in a couple of different contexts. First, the surface appearance. Is it pretty? Disturbing? Engaging? How we feel about it at first look depends on the inherent qualities of the work: form, composition, subject matter; as well as our own influences: where and when we grew up, what scares us, what bores us, what experience we’ve had as practitioners. Some people are comforted by traditional landscapes. Some ache for something different. If you see art all the time, you have a different take on it than someone who rarely goes to a gallery — think how less judgmental we’d be about movies if we only took in one film a year. But being too immersed in the art world can lead to a certain jadedness as well, an inability to appreciate the novel, the inspired, the unfamiliar. Then again, just because something’s new and out of the ordinary doesn’t make it good. We’re back to the “rules” of art, relying again on composition and technique to distinguish between achievement and aggrandizement. How to supercede the establishment without sacrificing quality?

The other factor is, what story does this tell? Sometimes something that doesn’t really look like much turns out to be when you discover the history around it. Great movements often start with rebellion against the status quo and last because that initial rebellion opens the floodgates to talent that would not have otherwise had an outlet. Unfortunately, some folks confuse rebellion as its own end, rather than a means to a better one. Tired of pretty paintings of pretty scenery? Present us with something dark and ugly - but in such a way that beauty actually lies within the work. Art without redemption isn’t only depressing, it’s boring.

Editor’s note: With this last thought-provoking piece Jennifer Savage ends her stint as Art Beat columnist. She figures we “have several writers waiting in the wings for a chance to take it on.” We don’t. Or maybe you’re in the wings and simply have not told us. Think you might have what it takes? Send an email to Arts and Culture editor Bob Doran at bobdoran@northcoastjournal.com.

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