Last Saturday, I attended the art exhibit at the Saranac in downtown Spokane. I went with the intention of seeing some of Scott Kolbo- one of my art Professor's- works, but got even more out of the event than I expected.
Scott Kolbo and Jen Erickson both had new works on display, which will be available for viewing for the rest of October (so go take a look!). Scott Kolbo's drawings and prints consist of hand drawn elements mixed with photomechanical prints. The characters he uses are normally thrown into some type of humorous and grotesque environment.
Jen Erickson's drawings consist of mini graphite mark-making that reflect her fascination of scientific examinations and other visual systems. From far away, her art looks like one big shape or mass, but when you are within inches of it you can see that it is made up of hundreds of miniscule objects like zeroes.
The work of Kolbo's that I was most interested in was the Monroe Street Dog Attack. The piece is an archival ink jet print; ink, acrylic, prismacolor, and charcoal on paper were used. The print shows a scene of a grungy man being attacked in the middle of a Spokane street by two vicious dogs. Off to the right there are flames exploding and smoke bollowing from two cars that have just collided. Overall, the theme isn't a very happy one, but like Kolbo usually does, it shows a scene from society that most people would not choose to recognize and represent publicly. I personally found the piece very interesting and had a hard time not staring at it for the majority of the time I was in the Saranac.Earlier I mentioned that this event was more than a display of works by two incredibly talented artists. This is because I got a lot of information from the discussion panel of four artists who spoke at the event.
There were many questions raised about our art community today, about Spokane's participation in the arts, the changing media, the role of education, how we find critical dialogue, and other important topics. The panel agreed that they would like to see more media coverage visually, and also more critical, essential coverage. Since there is a disconnect in the generations of artists, the artists agreed that art education shouldn't stop at the learning process and technique, but that as many venues should be opened as possible. Artists also find it hard to find good critical dialogue because people are too afraid of criticism and rejection of their art. So my question to the community is: where do YOU think the areas of art could be improved today? Is it in our youth, in media coverage, critical dialogue, or some other form of participation?
3 comments:
This panel was very fun to listen to. As opposed to other panels I have been to. These artists and art appreciators in the audience were very laid back which made the discussion much more diverse. I enjoyed that the panelists had a lot to say about the current state of the art community in Spokane and improvements we can make as the community. Overall, this discussion was a great way to give one's "two cents" about the Spokane art community.
I disagree with Killer Koala, as I believe that the panel was simply ranting about how art, as a whole and as a venue, is at a stand still in Spokane. Granted, the art world needs more media coverage than it is currently getting, but I feel that the complaints heard from the artists themselves was totally unimportant and off-topic. When those who wished to become established artists went to study, or sell their works, or collaborate with others during the Renaissance, the artists went directly to the source- the Parisian School of Art. I'm not saying that that is what the panel should have done, by any means. I simply believe that all of the artists in the panel neglect to realize that Spokane, as a whole, is a melting-pot of low income families, and spoiled college students who don't give two shits about the arts. Their complaints, in my opinion, would be of higher merit were they in Seattle, or some other city with more of an artistic connotation.
The show itself I found to be rather enjoyable, as I too love the work of Scott Kolbo, and the meticulous workmanship of Emily's pieces were very impressive. As a whole, before one notices how her work was composed, the pieces are very effective, while after the tedious craftsmanship is noted, the piece becomes that much more impressive. One might say that her work is "enjoyable in layers".
Dillon, Maybe your prejudices are getting in the way of seeing "Spokane as a whole." It's obvious that there is a lot more to our melting pot than low income families and spoiled college kids. There is an art scene and it is growing. I fully agree with Mr. Killer Koala, the meeting was very informative and a great start. The Symposium was about addressing where we are as a community and meant to be a positive informative discussion. Scott went out of his way to prevent it from turning into a big artist bitch-fest...maybe one or two slipped through the cracks, but overall it was pretty on track. I find it interesting that here you are bitching about it after the fact.
I have included audio from the night at the bottom of this post:
http://uglyyellow.blogspot.com/2010/10/artfully-wonderous-weekend.html
Should anyone like to listen.
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