FindArtNola

<a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Skeka-0fO6I/AAAAAAAAAQc/aVLje2yw2_c/s1600-h/jolley%2527s%2520studio.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352427465599826850” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px” alt=”“ src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Skeka-0fO6I/AAAAAAAAAQc/aVLje2yw2_c/s320/jolley%2527s%2520studio.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><span>Richard <span>Jolley’s</span> Studio, 2009 by Richard <span>McCabe</span></span><br /><br /><div><div>In June of 2004, the Ogden Museum hosted its first nationally travelling exhibition, <em>Richard <span>Jolley</span>: Sculptor of Glass.</em> Co-curated by the Ogden’s Director, J. Richard <span>Gruber</span>, working with Stephen Wicks, of the Knoxville Museum of Art, the exhibition debuted at the Knoxville Museum of Art before beginning a national tour. The travelling exhibition featured works by the artist from 1984 through 2002, and was accompanied by a catalogue featuring a comprehensive essay by Dr. <span>Gruber</span>. In its Ogden incarnation, Dr. <span>Gruber</span> and the artist incorporated works made after 2002, showing his response to the exhibition.</div><div><br /><a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkekagRsj9I/AAAAAAAAAQM/44v6jOzyc5M/s1600-h/jolley.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352427457400836050” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 239px” alt=”“ src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkekagRsj9I/AAAAAAAAAQM/44v6jOzyc5M/s320/jolley.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><span><span>Jolley</span> at the Kiln, 2009 by Richard <span>McCabe</span></span><br /></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>In June of 2009, the Ogden’s Richard <span>McCabe</span> and Bradley <span>Sumrall</span> were treated to a tour of the West Knoxville studio that <span>Jolley</span> has worked in since 1975, catching a glimpse of the new direction this ever-changing artist is taking his work. Set off the highway in a thicket of woods, the studio was filled with activity. </div><div><br /><a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkekawULcAI/AAAAAAAAAQU/jAPi0uYoX7A/s1600-h/jolley%2520kiln.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352427461706215426” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px” alt=”“ src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkekawULcAI/AAAAAAAAAQU/jAPi0uYoX7A/s320/jolley%2520kiln.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /></div><div></div><div><span>Hand-built Holding Furnaces, 2009 by Richard <span>McCabe</span></span><br /><br /></div><div>“What I am trying to do is achieve a humanistic art.”<br /><a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkekmOsuh9I/AAAAAAAAAQs/GlpGGCAwehI/s1600-h/mold.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352427658840803282” style=“WIDTH: 236px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px” alt=”“ src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkekmOsuh9I/AAAAAAAAAQs/GlpGGCAwehI/s320/mold.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><span>Studio <span>Assistant</span> James Breed, 2009 by Richard <span>McCabe</span></span><br /><br /></div><div>The new forms in <span>Jolley’s</span> work are still heavily inspired by classical human forms. One sees a direct relation to his series <em>Busts </em>(1990-1994), <em>Torsos </em>(1994-1996) and <em>Totems</em> (1996-2001), yet the forms are fresh, minimalist, and both contemporary and deeply connected to his Pop Art roots. </div><div><br /><a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkekbLbK46I/AAAAAAAAAQk/SYGhjYR7HTY/s1600-h/jolly%2520assistants.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352427468983296930” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px” alt=”“ src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkekbLbK46I/AAAAAAAAAQk/SYGhjYR7HTY/s320/jolly%2520assistants.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><span>Kenneth Gonzales, James Breed and Raul Garcia, 2009 by Richard <span>McCabe</span></span><br /><br /></div><div>”<span>Jolley</span> views himself as an artist who works in glass, not as a ‘glass artist.’ For him, the distinction is a critical one,” Dr. <span>Gruber</span> wrote in 2002. In 2009, we see that <span>Jolley</span> still holds that belief, and continues to push the boundaries of his medium.</div><div></div><div></div></div><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3601211757000210971-8396954359308037757?l=omsablog.blogspot.com” alt=”“ /></div>

<a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SkcUzt_5bkI/AAAAAAAAAIc/f7Yupmnejx0/s1600-h/~Caesar.s.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 236px; height: 320px;” src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SkcUzt_5bkI/AAAAAAAAAIc/f7Yupmnejx0/s320/~Caesar.s.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352269560906608194” border=“0” /></a>The Generic Art Solutions guys are at it again. Famous for their Art Cops tours of the Prospect.1 biennial, during which they wore cop uniforms and gave guided tours of the P.1 sights in a vintage police cruiser, Matt Vis and Tony Campbell have returned to what, for them, passes for normal: spelunking the meaning of life, and death, with a variety of visual aids. Specifically, their mixed media works allude to art history and pop culture and various combinations thereof.<br />Here their large, elaborately staged photographs of themselves as MARAT and OPHELIA in extremis take cues from masterworks by David and Millais respectively, but things get trickier when they portray marble busts of Caesar and Caligula, Roman emperors who died violent deaths. <a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SkcR0WVTk3I/AAAAAAAAAnw/1tB7t6a—Uc/s1600-h/~laptopweb.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SkcR0WVTk3I/AAAAAAAAAnw/1tB7t6a—Uc/s320/~laptopweb.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352266273198936946” border=“0” /></a>These are weird, in part because they blink. Look closely, and the images are actually endless loop videos on LCD monitors where they appear almost, but not totally, motionless. Their MOTEL SUITE is like a series of movie stills in which not much is happening, just two guys in a motel doing stuff like eating potato chips, brushing their teeth and cleaning their guns. Like mercenaries at rest, they appear <a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SkcT9G6s7ZI/AAAAAAAAAoA/9R09lXXboTQ/s1600-h/~Gilmore.a.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 289px; height: 320px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SkcT9G6s7ZI/AAAAAAAAAoA/9R09lXXboTQ/s320/~Gilmore.a.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352268622702898578” border=“0” /></a>to be getting ready for a hit, but we don’t know who or why, reflecting the ambiguous anonymity of so much modern violence—yet it is that precisely that ambiguity that gives this otherwise deadpan series its intrigue. In the back gallery, Drew Gilmore’s stark, black-on-black silkscreen portraits of jazz greats who died tragic deaths sets a somber tone, providing an eloquently elegiac counterpoint to the rest of this generally quirky and thought provoking expo.<br />~D. Eric Bookhardt<br /><span>STILL LIFE AND TRAGIC ENDINGS: New Work by Generic Art Solutions, Drew Gilmore and Natalie Nichols<br />Through July 4<br />Good Children Gallery, 4037 St. Claude Ave., 975-1557;<br />www.goodchildrengallery.com</span><br /><span>Email:</span><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-2852050373189807381?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>

<a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkEHguZwvSI/AAAAAAAAAP8/g2Zfi1LEqrs/s1600-h/Loretta.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350566091086150946” style=“WIDTH: 185px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px” alt=”“ src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkEHguZwvSI/AAAAAAAAAP8/g2Zfi1LEqrs/s320/Loretta.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><div><span>©2008 <span>YEE</span>-HAW INDUSTRIAL LETTERPRESS</span><br /><div><div><br /><div>On Thursday, June 18, the Ogden’s Bradley <span>Sumrall</span> and Richard <span>McCabe</span> visited <span>Yee</span>-Haw Industries in Knoxville, Tennessee. Started in 1996 in a Corbin, Kentucky barn by partners Julie <span>Belcher</span> and Kevin Bradley, <span>Yee</span>-Haw is an industrial letterpress and design company now located in a turn-of-the-century Gay Street building in downtown Knoxville. The over-stuffed studio is covered floor to ceiling with examples of their posters, prints, and broadsheets, filled with cards, t-shirts, and some of the funkiest collectibles to be found.<br /><div><div><br /><a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDZlVKe1XI/AAAAAAAAAP0/RtuerS-St3Q/s1600-h/YEE.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350515592675644786” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 248px” alt=”“ src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDZlVKe1XI/AAAAAAAAAP0/RtuerS-St3Q/s320/YEE.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDYNSZ7wJI/AAAAAAAAAPs/FWYjnxJxkto/s1600-h/YEE%20HAW%20HAW.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350514080106659986” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px” alt=”“ src=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDYNSZ7wJI/AAAAAAAAAPs/FWYjnxJxkto/s320/YEE%2520HAW%2520HAW.jpg” border=“0” /></a></div><div><span><span>Yee</span> Window and Haw Window, 2009 by Richard <span>McCabe</span>.</span> </div><div></div><div>The letterpress barn in Corbin was started by Julie and Kevin with antique printing equipment saved from a rusty future, and used to create folk art woodblock prints of country music icons like Hank Williams (last seen alive feet from their current location) and Loretta Lynn, handmade posters of Southern subculture heroes like <span>Cas</span> Walker and Colonel Harlan Sanders. The work turned heads, and before long, the press was commissioned to create album art and promotional posters for contemporary artists including Steve Earle, Buddy Guy, Lucinda Williams and Southern Culture on the Skids.</div><div><br /><a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDXsqfBG7I/AAAAAAAAAPE/VvY2b547Ido/s1600-h/yee%20haw%20wall.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350513519634750386” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px” alt=”“ src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDXsqfBG7I/AAAAAAAAAPE/VvY2b547Ido/s320/yee%2520haw%2520wall.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><span><span>Yee</span>-Haw Interior, 2009 by Richard <span>McCabe</span></span></div><div></div><div>All <span>Yee</span>-Haw prints are hand-set with original or vintage hand-carved wood blocks and type. Some of the earliest letter blocks date from the early eighteenth century. One vintage cabinet in the studio contains the history of Southern pro-wrestling in printer’s photo plates. Drying racks are filled with inked paper at various stages of each color’s eight-hour drying schedule. This is a real press in high production, full of activity and creativity.</div><div><br /><a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDXs6XgxiI/AAAAAAAAAPM/1kSi1lUOwkE/s1600-h/yee-haw.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350513523898238498” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 232px” alt=”“ src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDXs6XgxiI/AAAAAAAAAPM/1kSi1lUOwkE/s320/yee-haw.jpg” border=“0” /></a> </div><div><span>Kevin Bradley in Studio, 2009 by Richard <span>McCabe</span></span><br /><br />Principal Julie <span>Belcher</span>, hailing from <span>Morgantown</span>, West Virginia, is the force behind building the brand. First introduced to the art world when her high school sold <span>Krispy</span> <span>Kreme</span> doughnuts to fund a trip to New York City, Julie went on to serve as art director and designer for Whittle Communications, <em>Seventeen </em>and Blue Note Records. Principal Kevin Bradley studied painting and graphic design before developing the unique <span>Yee</span>-Haw style. Julie lectures at institutions both academic and commercial. Kevin carves most of the original artwork produced by <span>Yee</span>-Haw. </div><div><a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDXtiokHaI/AAAAAAAAAPc/SrkWpfmX-Ng/s1600-h/YEE%20HAW%20PRESS%20.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350513534707178914” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 246px” alt=”“ src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDXtiokHaI/AAAAAAAAAPc/SrkWpfmX-Ng/s320/YEE%2520HAW%2520PRESS%2520.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><span>Intern Christian Cox, 2009 by Richard <span>McCabe</span></span> </div><div>Recent <span>Yee</span>-Haw collaborators include Mississippi artist Sean Star Wars, Brooklyn’s Cannonball Press, and Washington D.C.‘s National Gallery of Art where they designed and produced a unique line of Dada merchandise for their 2006 Dada exhibition. <span>Yee</span>-Haw was recently commissioned by Jim Flora Art to produce limited edition prints from Flora’s original blocks. Flora was an acclaimed and prolific illustrator and designer, best known for his album covers of the 40s and 50s. Of working with this material, Kevin Bradley says, “ For us, it’s like playing golf with Tiger Woods.”</div><div><div><a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDXtKDzCdI/AAAAAAAAAPU/HMMsF4pNOjs/s1600-h/yee%20hAW%20TYPE.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350513528110516690” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px” alt=”“ src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SkDXtKDzCdI/AAAAAAAAAPU/HMMsF4pNOjs/s320/yee%2520hAW%2520TYPE.jpg” border=“0” /></a></div><div><span>Printing Blocks, 2009 by Richard <span>McCabe</span></span> </div></div><div></div><div>For more on <span>Yee</span>-Haw, visit <a href=“http://www.yeehawindustries.com/”>http://www.yeehawindustries.com/</a> .</div><div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3601211757000210971-1715340535688551745?l=omsablog.blogspot.com” alt=”“ /></div>

<a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sj2Sxne0AqI/AAAAAAAAAmw/dNBAzZBpsVs/s1600-h/Barnes_InequityLoftTowers_LG.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sj2Sxne0AqI/AAAAAAAAAmw/dNBAzZBpsVs/s400/Barnes_InequityLoftTowers_LG.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349593313495483042” border=“0” /></a>It’s an unusual name for an art show. Eschatology is a branch of religious study that deals with endings in general and the Last Judgment in particular. Local artist John Barnes felt it was an appropriate term to use for his current crop of wooden sculptures inspired by old shotgun houses that endured Katrina-related flooding often described as “Biblical.” Thanks to the work of numerous visual artists, the classic, dilapidated New Orleans shotgun house has emerged as an enduring icon of local African American life, and Barnes’ compact yet intense assemblages further elaborate this legacy.<br /><a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sj2Y2IpeFJI/AAAAAAAAAnI/zpZRAm7z60A/s1600-h/Barnes.2.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 116px; height: 200px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sj2Y2IpeFJI/AAAAAAAAAnI/zpZRAm7z60A/s200/Barnes.2.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349599988187796626” border=“0” /></a>Abstract in form yet realistic in detail, his wood and mixed media sculptures are curved and vertical, suggesting upended wooden boats as well as ghostly two story structures. It is a form that also evokes the enchanted huts of folk tales as well as the hoods worn by “gangstas” trying to at least partially conceal their identities. Weathered and distressed, they seem haunted by both personal memories and impersonal forces seemingly beyond anyone’s control. INEQUITY LOFT TOWERS, pictured, is a gauntly rakish hulk of overlapping shingles and distressed paint. Like most abandoned houses, the interior chambers seem to sag under the weight of accumulated personal histories, the ghosts of former occupants. Barnes’ HOODED LILLIPUTIAN GANGSTER series is comprised of similar, but smaller, pieces. Distressed and partially torched, they bear gang graffiti, as well as the “X” marks of houses slated for demolition, like crude tattoos. The drawings suggest detailed schematics for the construction of blight, which is really what these works are all about: the beauty and blight of a city where poetry and tragedy, community and chaos, so often coexist in such close proximity.<br /><a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sj2XU8G-UAI/AAAAAAAAAnA/4PNod2AtbIQ/s1600-h/Barnes.3.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 287px;” src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sj2XU8G-UAI/AAAAAAAAAnA/4PNod2AtbIQ/s400/Barnes.3.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349598318374572034” border=“0” /></a><span>ESCHATOLOGY: Recent Sculpture and Drawings by John Barnes Jr.<br />Through July 25<br />Lemieux Galleries, 332 Julia St., 522-5988; www.lemieuxgalleries.com</span><br /><span><span> </span><span>Email:</span></span><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-3199103140242857875?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>

<a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SjcjLfZtiFI/AAAAAAAAAO0/WBWCKQQ6Feg/s1600-h/redpink.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347781762840627282” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 315px” alt=”“ src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SjcjLfZtiFI/AAAAAAAAAO0/WBWCKQQ6Feg/s320/redpink.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><span><em>South Miami Beach</em>, 1982-1985. Photograph by Gay Block.</span><br /><br />On Friday, June 19, the Ogden Museum @ Watercolor will open <em>Picturing the South: People, Land, Architecture, Cities. </em>Composed from the Ogden’s photography collection, this exhibition includes photographs from 1934 to the present. A wide range of processes and styles attempt to represent the South’s people and places, from the shrub brushed beaches of northwestern Florida to the dusty fields of the Mississippi Delta, from the color of South Miami’s Jewish community to the texture of New <span>Orlean’s</span> <span>Vieux</span> <span>Carre</span> at Carnival.<br /><br />The Ogden’s <span>chief</span> <span>preparator</span>, Richard <span>McCabe</span> and I are installing the exhibition in Watercolor before delivering the works of Mississippi artist, William Dunlap, to Banner Elk, North Carolina. After that we are on to the studio of Knoxville’s Richard Jolley. Hopefully, along the way we’ll record some truly Southern images and experiences to share here at Verso. Below is a view from the Watercolor Inn this afternoon.<br /><br /><a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SjcqSFiDtWI/AAAAAAAAAO8/YPElbDx441w/s1600-h/Watercoloredit.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347789572736791906” style=“WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px” alt=”“ src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SjcqSFiDtWI/AAAAAAAAAO8/YPElbDx441w/s320/Watercoloredit.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><span>Photograph by Bradley <span>Sumrall</span>, 2009.</span><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3601211757000210971-8819167690039055365?l=omsablog.blogspot.com” alt=”“ /></div>

<a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SjSUm56vSNI/AAAAAAAAAmI/I65yLJuxWjs/s1600-h/~Lockwood1..s.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SjSUm56vSNI/AAAAAAAAAmI/I65yLJuxWjs/s400/~Lockwood1..s.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347062053698750674” border=“0” /></a>“I listen to the radio a lot, especially the oldies stations,” said Lory Lockwood, explaining how Marilyn Monroe and the pop culture of the fifties influenced her most recent work. What that really refers to is the American Dream that materialized half a century ago with Marilyn, Elvis and Harley Davidsons, as well as Hollywood movies and muscle cars—the vehicles that inspired so many of Lockwood’s canvases over the past decade. But the glossy, pop-realist paintings in this show depict shop windows where flashily dressed manikins extend the Marilyn era “girly girl” fantasy into the present while reflecting odd bits of the “real world” on the streets outside.<br />The resulting images are kaleidoscopic, as the alluring American myth of eternal youth and glamour contrasts with plastic artificiality and the gritty reality of daily life. Trading the glossy chrome of high octane cars and motorcycles for the flash and dazzle of the Marilyn legacy as it appears in shop windows about town leaves one constant in place: Lockwood’s flair for shiny reflective surfaces. It is a fascination that she reduced to a realm of almost pure abstraction in her most recent car canvases, but which in this show becomes more expansive and lighthearted. <a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SjSWEvB2-6I/AAAAAAAAAmg/UFbaHFuthtc/s1600-h/~Lockwood3.s.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;” src=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SjSWEvB2-6I/AAAAAAAAAmg/UFbaHFuthtc/s200/~Lockwood3.s.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347063665683528610” border=“0” /></a>That reflective proclivity is seen in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, above, an oil painting of a display window where posters of Marilyn peer through a glass display case with little statuettes and beauty products. In others, French Quarter or Magazine Street scenes are reflected in shop windows containing Marilyn memorabilia displayed like pop reliquaries of saintly remains. The kaleidoscopic perspective is dreamlike, which is only appropriate for a pop-saint, an American icon of eternal youth and flashy extravagance. ~D. Eric Bookhardt<a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SjSXG21gpBI/AAAAAAAAAmo/Xrb0xAn6Fm0/s1600-h/~Lockwood2.s.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SjSXG21gpBI/AAAAAAAAAmo/Xrb0xAn6Fm0/s400/~Lockwood2.s.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347064801650582546” border=“0” /></a><span>MARILYN AND THE DREAMGIRLS: New Work by Lory Lockwood<br />Through June<br />Soren Christensen Gallery, 400 Julia St., 569-9501; www.sorenchristensen.com<br /></span><span><span>Expanded from <a href=“http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/index”>Gambit</a> </span><span><br /></span><span>Email:</span></span><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-1552829791026930136?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>

<a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SisiOrFnsNI/AAAAAAAAAlg/MLAWIBKGJUM/s1600-h/~Loyola-Holzenthal.s.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 318px;” src=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SisiOrFnsNI/AAAAAAAAAlg/MLAWIBKGJUM/s400/~Loyola-Holzenthal.s.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344403018285035730” border=“0” /></a>Inspiration is mysterious; no one really knows where it comes from. Artists rely on it, but so do the curators who assemble art shows. Loyola’s Diboll Gallery curator Karoline Schleh said the inspiration for the current PORTRAIT expo came unexpectedly while visiting Graffiti Graphics on Oak Street. There she encountered an assemblage created from old United Way employee photo-ID badges hanging from a neon “vacancy” sign found on Airline Highway after Katrina. For Schleh it symbolized “all the missing New Orleanians who evacuated and left shells of workplaces and homes behind.”<br />VACANCY, by Henry Holzenthal, the piece noted above, is memorable for seeming to have serendipitously fallen into place, as if by the invisible hand of fate rather than the corporeal hand of Holzenthal. But it also reflects of the diversity of a show that spans everything from traditional oil paintings to abstract or conceptual renditions of a wide array of subjects. The results are not always predictable. Gina Phillips’ HAIR VS. FACE is vaguely alarming as what initially suggests a sewn fabric rendition of the artist’s visage morphs into a nebulous mass on close inspection, like a photograph marinated in floodwaters. This contrasts with Adrian Deckbar’s STUDY IN LIGHT AND DARK portrait of a woman, and Alexander Stolin’s PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST’S SON, both classic examples of why sensitively rendered oil paintings never seem to lose their appeal.<br /><a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sisi1aq9FHI/AAAAAAAAAlo/VQ7e4n-k5dk/s1600-h/~Fithian.David-Question+Man.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 200px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sisi1aq9FHI/AAAAAAAAAlo/VQ7e4n-k5dk/s200/~Fithian.David-Question+Man.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344403683893122162” border=“0” /></a>Other works such as David Fithian’s QUESTION MAN, left, a pop portrait of a dude whose hair suggests a question mark, or Myrtle von Damitz’s hauntingly weird self-portrait, STRICKEN, evoke unsettled states of mind that may also correlate with broader social or cultural upheavals. <a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SisjNauujEI/AAAAAAAAAlw/ML3DcIUFHmA/s1600-h/~Bishop-Chico+Mendes.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 186px; height: 200px;” src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SisjNauujEI/AAAAAAAAAlw/ML3DcIUFHmA/s200/~Bishop-Chico+Mendes.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344404096225807426” border=“0” /></a><br />In that sense, a selection of dreamlike portraits by Louisiana Imagists Jacqueline Bishop, Douglas Bourgeois and Elizabeth Fox convey the uncanny charisma of subjects such as Bishop’s CHICO MENDES, right, who rose from humble origins to embody the dreams and aspirations of a generation.<br />~D. Eric Bookhardt<br /><br /><span>PORTRAIT: Group Exhibition of Portraits in Various Media by 28 Artists<br />Through August<br />Collins Diboll Gallery, Loyola U., 6363 St. Charles Ave., 865-2186;<br />www.loyno.edu/dibollgallery<br /></span><span><span>Expanded from <a href=“http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/index”>Gambit</a> </span><span><br /></span><span>Email:</span></span><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-614956730962851185?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>

In the Daily Beast:<span><br /></span><a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SitU3ogQ3KI/AAAAAAAAAl4/YsEgTgJLrgY/s1600-h/Art+Beast+at+the+Biennale+-+The+Daily+Beast+copy.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 330px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SitU3ogQ3KI/AAAAAAAAAl4/YsEgTgJLrgY/s400/Art+Beast+at+the+Biennale+-+The+Daily+Beast+copy.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344458697547504802” border=“0” /></a><span><a href=“http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsmaker/art-and-photography?cid=hp:blogunit1”>http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsmaker/art-and-photography?cid=hp:blogunit1</a></span><br /><br />and The London Guardian:<div><a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SisbBT9XZHI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/yzyjG8MOEcc/s1600-h/Mr-B-an-installation-at-t-002.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 240px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SisbBT9XZHI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/yzyjG8MOEcc/s400/Mr-B-an-installation-at-t-002.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344395092156703858” border=“0” /></a><span><a href=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/venice-biennale”>http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/venice-biennale</a><br /></span><span><br /><span><span>And now the New York Times’ Michael Kimmelman gives us a more acerbic view:</span><br /></span></span><a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SjLCAlE2B5I/AAAAAAAAAmA/-O7MpIc4LVU/s1600-h/abroad-1-600.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 233px;” src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SjLCAlE2B5I/AAAAAAAAAmA/-O7MpIc4LVU/s400/abroad-1-600.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346549022850418578” border=“0” /></a><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/arts/design/11abroad.html?ref=design”>Small World Crammed on Biennale’s Grand Stage</a><span><br /></span><span>By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN </span> <p> The 53rd Venice Biennale is tidy, disciplined, cautious and unremarkable, suggesting a somewhat dull, deflated contemporary art world, professionalized to a fault, in search of a fresh consensus. </p> <ul><li><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/06/11/arts/20090611-ABROAD_index.html”><img src=“http://graphics.nytimes.com/images/multimedia/icons/photo_icon.gif” alt=“Photographs” border=“0” height=“10” width=“12” /> Slide Show: The 2009 Venice Biennale</a></li><li><a href=“http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/v/venice_biennale/index.html”>Times Topics: Venice Biennale</a></li><li><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/06/10/arts/design/20090610_BIENNALE_FEATURE.html”><img src=“http://graphics.nytimes.com/images/multimedia/icons/interactive_icon.gif” alt=“Interactive” border=“0” height=“9” width=“9” /> Interactive Feature: A Wealth of Art in Venice</a></li></ul><br /></div><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-3736159600192471914?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>