How We See Materiality and Color

Laumeier Sculpture Park opened its latest show in the Adam Aronson Fine Arts Building featuring six artists expertly curated by Dana  Turkavic and presented by Chief Preparator Marty Linson under watchful eye of Executive Director Lauren Ross. Four of the artists were on hand to open the show. Claire Ashley, Anne Lindberg, Odili Donald Odita and Jedediah Caesar took turns with with comments on the exhibition.

Clair Ashley’s work and performance piece on the lawn outside anchored the event with a shared sense of contemporary sculpture that at her own admission straddles monumental contemprary art and whimsy. Anne Lindberg pieces exercise discipline and color executed with graphite and colored pencil in vertical parallel lines on matt board that are nearly nine feet tall. She admits that the layers of color on graphite were pains-takingly produced.  Odili Donald Odita offered that his work Van Gogh’s Trees (a work of acrylic latex on a laminated panel) has a way of shifting the viewers sense of space, near and far, as one considers its color and texture. Jedediah Caesar’s sculptural egg-like pieces of ceramic stone and epoxy adorn the northeastern corner of the gallery space and he applauds the curator’s support in not presenting the work on pedestals. You can only assume that artists Barbara Kasten and Jeffrey Gibson are as happy as these four artists on hand appear to be about this juxtaposition of art.

The six artists included in this show celebrate a diversity and geography while exploring color and materials in contemporary art. Clair lives and works in Chicago by way of Scotland. Anne lives and works in upstate New York after her education took her to Ohio (Miami University) and Michigan (Cranbrook Academy of Art). Odili lives and works in Philadelphia and was born in Nigeria. He went to college at Ohio State and Vermont. Jedediah did his BFA in Boston  before his MFA at University of California in Los Angeles where he now lives and works. Jeffrey and Barbara live and work in New York and Chicago respectively.

It’s a comfortable 37 degrees outside on this Saturday March 2, 2019. We anticipate another winter event of snow and below freezing temperatures this weekend. It is nice to enjoy this splash of color and materiality with docents, staff and a modest gathering of Laumeier fans. Meanwhile Mardi Gras festivities are happening downtown with a parade. The good news it that this exhibition is on view until June 30, 2019.     

 

Photo Credits:Artist at the mic, Anne Lindberg talks about her works, the small hours, 2017 & as though air could turn to honey, 2017 and outdoor performance piece and works by Clair Ashley.