Friday, April 14, 2006
Review in brief
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Consumption, a group show curated by Jeremy Tubbs, at Madison Studios and Gallery. This group show, in my opinion, was the most interesting exhibition along the last First Friday event. The show offered up a simple yet intriguing theme of consumption and all that, that may imply. While not all the work in the show may have been top notch, as an overall exhibition, I think it simply worked. The thing I most liked about the show was that it took chances and there were within the show, surprises. There is a lack of surprises in a lot of shows these days, particularly in group shows. We often see a lot of the same artists doing exactly what we know them to do. But here, I was introduced to a few artists I had not been keen to and I was able to see some strong work by artists whose work I have liked in the past. Artists in the show included the likes of, Carrie Armellino, Katrin Asbury, Doug Britt, Christina DiLiberto, Patrick Gillespie,
Emily Gustafson, Tyler Meuninck, Lori Miles, Michelle Pemberton, Herb
Peterson, Tommy Reyes, Joe Thompson, Jeremy Tubbs, Susan Watt Grade,
and Sarah Willis. The show offered up everything from paintings of bread by Tyler Meuninck, coke bottle lava lamps by Jeremy, drawings, installations, videos, performance, giant teeth, photographs, and more. A bit of something for everyone. The strongest piece in the show for me was the work of Lori Miles, whose work is partially seen above. Not seen in the above picture are the two accompanying photos, both details; one of the navel of an orange, the other, the knot of a balloon. The scale of the inflated, bright red spheres with netting played off the smallish scale of the photos to great effect. The Madison once again proves to have the best exhibition space for artists to use for shows. It will be a shame when the place closes as some of the best shows I have seen in the city over the past few years have been staged there.
15 Responses to “Review in brief”
April 14, 2006 at 4:20 PM
Katrin's drawings were fantastic. Jeremy's installation was really interesting as was Herb Peterson's video installation.
All in all, big thumbs up and congrats on a great show Jeremy.
April 15, 2006 at 9:54 AM
Thank god for the onthecusp blog. Since nobody else in the media reviewed ANY of the over 20 openings on the 7th, I had to come here to see some quasi-intelligent analysis of at least one opening. Too bad you guys didn't go to more of the smaller shows and see some amazing LOCAL talent doing what they do best instead of taking what I consider to be silly, time-wasting chances. Growth in art instead of the BIG ideas that never connect to most, but always to a slim few.
April 15, 2006 at 2:53 PM
Over the next couple weeks we should have at least one other writer perhaps two writing reviews from time to time. Other shows I saw that night were:
The new landscape paintings up at Mark Ruschman Gallery, I really liked one of the paintings there but didn't feel I wanted to write about the show as a whole this time around.
Big Car Fountain Square, by the time I got there all the people that showed up for the bands had filled the space and I couldn't rightfully see the work properly to write about it.
Susan's paintings at Galerie Penumbra, I have been thinking a bit about this show since I saw it the night it opened. I have things to write about this show but I am trying to think them through.
And then there is the work of Jose at the Harrison Center. For the sole reason that I rent a studio at the Harrison, I will not write about shows there. This is not to say our other writers can't, just that I won't. Same with Jim who won't write about Big Car and Chris won't review iMOCA. We think this is the best plan of action.
I am quite sure I missed some other worthwhile shows. But it is very hard to get to more than I did that night. It is my hope that once we get the new writers up to speed, we should have a broader scope of reviews and more perspectives on some of the shows. I for one would have liked to see the Herron sculpture department show that night.
Thanks for your appreciation and I hope that over time we at On the Cusp can provide a broader and better review section to our readers. That is after all one of the main reasons we started the site, to create a dialogue about the art made and seen around Indy.
April 15, 2006 at 3:03 PM
The Consumption show was very nicely put together, and I just want to point out that it wasn't just Jeremy's doing, though he was the only one mentioned in InTake and above. Sarah Willis invited half of the artists (including me) and did a lot to prepare the space. Great job Sarah!
April 15, 2006 at 4:04 PM
Thank you for the clarification and much deserved kudos to Sarah as well.
April 15, 2006 at 4:39 PM
Ooops, sorry Sarah. I was misinformed. And thank you anonymous for clearing that up for us. A good example of the community watching out for each other and making sure each get the props they ahave coming to them. Good job to both Jeremy and Sarah.
April 16, 2006 at 8:35 AM
Thanks! :) I enjoy reading any informative reviews, no matter how short. The more the merrier. I don't live in Indpls, so I need to know if there is something I want to see badly enough to warrant the gas money. Also, when I am in the city, it's usually during the day, M-F and many of these places aren't open then. I need to know if there is something exciting that I need to make a special trip to see.
I have a studio at Sugar Creek Art Center, and have considered writing about some of the other artists who have studios there for our local daily paper, but then I worry that I would hurt friends feelings when I choose to write about some and not others. This is too bad though, because these are the people I understand and see the most.
April 17, 2006 at 4:26 PM
How about a review of public art pieces in Indianapolis?
Thanks,
nanotech
April 17, 2006 at 4:41 PM
Nanotech,
Hmmm, I like the idea. Seems a challenge of sorts and may take a while to write but I think I would be interested in doing a few reviews of public art. I know I have some strong feelings about a few of them out there. Let me see what I can come up with.
April 17, 2006 at 6:03 PM
Just please don't make it a typical on the cusp rant about how everything sucks.
April 17, 2006 at 7:01 PM
The last comment wasn't mine.
nanotech
April 18, 2006 at 9:02 AM
There is some fantastic public art coming to Indy in 2006. (and there's some good stuff out there now). Just thought I would give a heads up.
April 18, 2006 at 1:39 PM
Scott,
Maybe you can start with the Windows, I've seen some interesting ones and some crapy ones too.
April 18, 2006 at 1:45 PM
Question for anyone that may be able to answer. Is there any sort of map of the public art works in and around Indy or of the windows recently being done? If there isn't a map of the permanent public works at least, there really should be. I know that often I see a public art work that I have no idea who did it or what it is called. A map whether printed out or online would be a wonderful tool. Particularly on a nice spring day, when you may decide to walk around town and view these things up close and personal. Something many of us may not usually do. If anyone knows of a map, where can I find one?
Thanks
April 18, 2006 at 3:46 PM
I doubt there is a map. But you can find where some of this stuff is at the indyarts.org website.
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