Openings offer Springfield art lovers a wide variety
Two of Springfield’s most
reliable venues for contemporary visual art presented openings of very
different exhibitions this past Friday, Sept. 8. However, only one of
the venues will still be standing next year at this time.
DEMO
Project – a small gallery space dedicated to contemporary art from
across the country, located on the Springfield Art Association campus –
opened its doors in September 2013 and will finally realize its titular
fate of being demolished in early 2018. Appropriately, the doomed venue
celebrated its fourth and final anniversary on Friday with three
simultaneous exhibitions under the umbrella title of “DEMO Project: Last
Birthday.”
In recent
months, DEMO shows have been expanding beyond the walls of the main
gallery, with the addition of a smaller rear gallery in April of 2016 as
well as through presenting work designed to adorn the exterior of the
building and the surrounding lawn. None have been more immediately
impactful than “Hey, How’s Life???” by Cincinnatibased artist Breanne
Trammell (appearing through an arrangement with St. Louis gallery
STNDRD) which takes the form of a giant roll of toilet paper (48 inches x
20 inches x 22 inches) hanging obtrusively off the front of the DEMO
building. According to Trammell, the roll was made in protest of Donald
Trump. The “paper” is actually a series of silkscreened fabric squares,
each embossed with the phrase, “It’s terrific!” According to press
materials, “For each day the flag is on display, two squares will be cut
away from the roll of toilet paper to create a variable edition of
prints.” Proceeds from the sale of the prints will benefit the Southern
Poverty Law Center.
The
front gallery contains several colorful, three-dimensional multimedia
pieces under the name “Boyish Charms” by the Chicagobased team of Betsy
Odom and Rafael E.
Vera,
including a giant hot dog and a wooden chainsaw suspended from the
ceiling, all in the service of evoking what the artists’ statement
described as
“relationships…in which desires and needs are measured and weighed to
hopefully create a sort of middle ground: a concession.” Meanwhile, the
rear gallery and lawn are dedicated to “And when we go we come crashing
down” by another Chicago team, Sarah Belknap and Joseph Belknap. The
theme of their work here is panic (the word itself spelled out in foam
“rocks” on the lawn), represented in several humorous text- and
ceramic-based pieces. With its unprecedented tradition of bringing
innovative, edgy, funny and unexpected work to Springfield, the DEMO
will certainly be missed after it is DEMO-ed.
The
Pharmacy Gallery and Art Space, 711 S. Fifth St., presented its latest
thematic group show of members’ work with the playful, scattershot
“Interconnectivity.” The artists, all from the Springfield area, came up
with an eclectic variety of pieces, including an imposing large-scale
Mosaic Interaction #1 Through #5 by Jeff Williams, incorporating the
work of several other artists and an impressive, multi-layered,
self-lighted collaboration between member artist Delinda Chapman and
guest Marco Mulder entitled “Fusion.” Other interconnection-themed
highlights included Janet Sgro’s “The blind see its wings,” which
allowed visitors the opportunity to take a “winged” selfie in front of
an image of disembodied angels’ wings; and Timothy Donavan Russell’s
piped-in musical composition entitled “Interconnectivity,” which
featured over 300 samples and included a contest for sharp-eared
visitors to see how many they could pick out.
“DEMO
Project: Last Birthday” will run through Saturday, Oct. 7. DEMO Project
is open on Saturday afternoons from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. or by
appointment. Other than during events, The Pharmacy Gallery and Art
Space is open from noon until six p.m. each Friday and Saturday.
Contact Scott Faingold at [email protected].
