New Media Exhibit - postscript

As a follow-up to the recent post on the process of printing large-scale works from some figure drawings: two of the four submitted were taken and will be up in the Fairbanks Arts Association's Bear Gallery for the remainder of the month. Maybe this proved the MO of effectively doubling one's odds by putting in twice as many pieces, or maybe I should be humble enough to conceed there there wasn't any competition persay. One thing is for sure; just because the overall response from local artists entering was patheticly feeble and there wasn't much to choose from, that never automatically guarantees any piece a place in the show, as there were only a dozen works on display.

In retrospect I'd have to concur with the juror's decision to pick these two over the others anyways - comparatively much stronger works. Sometimes it takes an objective perspective from a third party to see your own work with honest appraisal, as endless self-critiquing gets pretty myopic. And to some degree it's encouraging to get positive feedback and critical validation, especially when one has been getting multiple rejections on other fronts. But as always, in the end, it doesn't affect the art: approval-seeking behavior makes for a poor creative motivation (unless your grade hinges on it, eh).

Pictured above are the two pieces "Seated Profile" & "Reclining Profile," with the latter awarded an Honorable Mention. In the juror's statement Kade Mendelowitz mentioned "I greatly enjoyed the sleek lines and wonderful scale of "Reclining Profile." The contrast of absolute black and white with minimal lines are a bold, joyous experience of elegant delight." Yeah, what he said.


There was a nice write-up in the newspaper, featuring interviews with a couple particpating artists. One, Jamila Hla Shme, picked up a Second Place award for her Photoshop abstract "Vision Fugitive #2" (shown here above). This particular piece was my personal favorite in the show; in person and up close (sorry about the nose-print) it had a peculiar organic quality remincient of some of the better encaustics I've seen - it also helped that the quality of the actual print was so rich that the textures seemed almost tactile. Also on the left is another of her four successful entries "Toccata & Fugue."

Turn-out for the First Friday reception was pretty sparse: adding to the general cultural miasma that is Fairbanks, much of the community is slowly being ground under the grip of winter: hibernating might be great for creating art but -20 puts a damper on the scene. We attended for about the first hour, and after humoring the inevitable and constant question "What's vectored mean?," it was time to stuff pockets with salami & cheese and make the rounds.

"I can live for two months on one good compliment." - Mark Twain