Les Trois Petites Décès
(Three Little Deaths)
PBICA turns into a metaphor
I felt like a child wandering around Disneyworld with mouth agape and eyes dancing.
OK, I'm fairly certain that you all are sick of my rants about the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art (PBICA) : about how it's the best art game in town, about their great shows and about how you're a fool if you don't go. And I swore to myself—and to my editor—that I would take a break from writing about them in obsequiousness to fairness and broadness of coverage. But, being the flawed human that I am, I'm going back on that pledge and writing about them once again. Please forgive me.
They presently have two shows going on (as usual), but I was unavoidably drawn to the one upstairs, in the New Media Lounge (NML), currently featuring Joseph Peragine .
Peragine consistently uses the metaphor of a playful and loveable rabbit, but he has mixed up our usual conceptions of the rabbit's paradigm—fertility, playfulness and quickness. He has placed them in grave and anthropomorphic situations such as death, grief and addiction. One piece, Untitled (Fountain) , is a fountain of a giant rabbit crying, with equally sized ants and butterflies gathered around it, seemingly indifferent to the rabbit's grief; an all-too-familiar metaphor for the reality of humans where we all ultimately suffer and die alone. The piece is chilling and hit a little too close to home for me, yet I was fixed in its presence and unable to tear myself away.
The NML also features the video piece Three Small Deaths : a poignant animated work, presented in three vignettes, about the deaths of children and their survivors' reactions. Peragine combines audio tracks from three major motion pictures— Short Cuts , The Ice Storm and Trainspotting —replacing depictions of humans with colorful cartoon animals acting out the tragic situations. The 13-minute video crushes our comfort in the normal escapism of cartoons by incorporating real-world trauma. Using the rabbit as a symbol of children's vulnerable innocence, Peragine draws on his own experience as a parent. This new identity for the artist has considerable impact on his work; what once seemed innocent now provokes anxiety.
The first selection from Short Cuts (1993), based on writings by Raymond Carver and directed by Robert Altman , depicts a child succumbing to death by disease in a hospital bed. In the second clip, from The Ice Storm (1997), based on the novel by Rick Moody and directed by Ang Lee , a child playfully explores the newly deposited ice covering his suburban neighborhood. After gleefully slipping and sliding around he is electrocuted when a power line snaps. In the final selection from Trainspotting (1996), based on the novel by Irvine Welsh and directed by Danny Boyle , an infant dies from neglect by heroin-using parents. Each event spotlights a parent's worst nightmare—their child's death. The metaphor of a cuddly, cute nursery world juxtaposed with the reality of mortality gives each scene a fresh impact.
The overall effect of the piece coupled with the crying fountain turns the NML into a den of sorrow. “Powerful” is not a strong enough word to describe the impact of the two pieces, but it's the best I can do.
Two Women
Downstairs and in the body of the 2 nd floor is the aptly named Two Women , which features, for the first time, the art of self-described “life partners” Carrie Moyer and Sheila Pepe . Their art contemplates the connections within their community and the relations of the past to the present. The two and three-dimensional paintings, drawings and sculptures play with appearance and perception.
My favorite pieces were Pepe's wall drawings, which reconstruct the shadows of created objects that by themselves convey nebulous and geometrical shapes by playing off their shadows with pencil drawings on the walls, calling to mind the aesthetic of shadow puppets. This method breeds a variety of questions, such as: What is the artwork? Is it the objects, the shadows or the wall drawings? And does something have to be concrete to be art? If the shadows are the art, then I can think of nothing more ethereal and compelling.
Pepe has also created massive webs of crotched shoelaces and nautical rope that fill the museum to the effect of surrealism. I was slightly disoriented walking among their webs and massive, complicated shadows.
The paintings and drawings of Carrie Moyer are deeply influenced by the poster art of America in the ‘60s and indeed the “hippy” movement. Her art brings to mind the concert art of Peter Max and his ilk. It's best illustrated by the covering of a large wall on the second floor with pasted “playbills,” a reproduced portrait by Moyer. The covering of the wall resembles the walls and power lines of a big city where venues and bands paste their posters of upcoming shows in dense configurations.
The overall effect of these exhibits is a little confusing and painful but captivating nonetheless. I felt like a child wandering around Disneyworld with mouth agape and eyes dancing. Moyer's colorful paintings and drawings coupled with Pepe's crotched webs and wall drawings make the museum into a sort of wonderland of colors and shapes. And then you wander upstairs to find the “bunny-centric” and intimate works of Peragine, exploring the gravity of life and death and the implications of powerlessness in a mad, chaotic universe. If one were to consider the metaphor of the museum as a body then the NML would manifestly be the warm, soft and squishy heart of the beast.
Shows run through August 25
PBICA
601 Lake Avenue
Lake Worth, FL 33460
561/582.0006
www.palmbeachica.org
Tuesday – Sunday: noon-6 p.m.
First and third Fridays: noon-8 p.m.
Guided tours: Saturdays at 2 p.m., first and third Fridays 5-8 p.m. or by appointment.
Admission:
$3 for adults, $2 for seniors and students, children under 12 for free.
Free admission every first and third Friday of the month 5-8 p.m.
Introduce yourself and come back
Art opening nights, where a relationship begins
By
Steve Mayo
Ft. Lauderdale is no longer just about the beach, bars and bikinis.
Art is intimidating. Some say it's even dangerous, nothing to be trifled with—a stick of dynamite, waiting to explode. It's dangerous because it's very personal; you might find something good, something evil, in the paintings too.
But you've got to get out to a gallery, to a museum or local venue paying the light bill every month and look at art to find anything.
From West Palm Beach to South Beach, art venues are catching on to the attraction of special events and gallery walks, where a cluster of art spaces decide, usually on a weekend night, to open up late, show off the gallery, serve cocktails and create a lively atmosphere to make the introduction between art and viewer. On opening night it's usually a brief introduction as many people come and they're waiting in line behind you to see the art too.
That was the case at Las Olas Art Center on a Saturday night in mid-May when the center toasted its grand opening with champagne and a black-tie gala that some boast drew as many as 3,000 guests.
“It's a showcase night,” explained art center director Elle Holbrook . “We want people to come and enjoy the space, meet an artist, talk to gallery owners about a collection. Let the work get in their head.”
Holbrook uses a rare mix of artistic creativity and business sense she employs to attract artists, potential collectors and the general public to the center.
For years she struggled as an artist but developed a career in real estate over the past ten years to help support her art. She said she had been eyeing the space at 2 nd Court just off Las Olas Boulevard for years, “just waiting for someone to do something like this.”
That someone turned out to be her.
“I'm blown away with what I've found,” Holbrook remarked about the local talent pool. “There's incredible talent here that has not been discovered yet. But many of them don't know how to manage themselves or don't have the business sense. At the same time we want to bring people together that are interested in culture and art. Ft. Lauderdale is no longer just about the beach, bars and bikinis.”
Like any other gallery director or art dealer, Holbrook's philosophy is to use opening night as an introduction between art and viewer, while the rest of the days the gallery is open to develop a relationship with the art.
But some question whether the center will be there to come back to.
Earlier this year, Matthew Carone , a prominent art dealer and accomplished violinist and painter sold the two-story 10,000 square-foot space to Holbrook and a group of backers.
“If I had it to do over, I don't think I would have sold it,” Carone said.
Holbrook took over the space to create an artist colony that provides gallery and studio space for local artists, which everyone appeared to be in agreement with.
But it was what she did next that caused a half dozen or so artists to split the scene; some due to personality clashes and others because of the aggressive approach. Holbrook fired Carone's son, who was slated to serve as general manager in charge of presenting, promoting and representing the art and the center and hired her own public relations firm, Event Werx instead.
“The opening was incredible. It was Hollywood . It was absolutely incredible and they did sell,” explained Lynda Gentile , an established sculptor who's shown her work at galleries and museums across the country over the past twenty years. “It's great, wonderful. I just don't know how long they're going to stay open. The events are great but I'm worried about the direction the gallery's going.”
Gentile and some of the artists were interested in the space because of Carrone's reputation as a reputable art dealer not just locally but internationally.
But while Gentile, who showed her work at the art center before leaving for exhibitions in Maine and Alaska this summer, expresses concern about the future of the gallery, Carlos Castillo , a 28-year-old painter said he's excited about the future of the art center.
“ Ft. Lauderdale , in my opinion, is a great area to display my art,” said Castillo, who joined the center in June. “I sold one of my paintings just days after joining and have taken the opportunity to be in a creative environment that fosters the ability to produce and sell my work. And the staff has been very friendly and productive, especially Elle Holbrook .”
As with any new endeavor, there are growing pains to go through.
And Holbrook says she understands that.
“The building was vacant for five years. There wasn't a piece of carpeting worth cleaning. It was frightening. It reeked of cigar smoke. Nothing was going on here,” she said, describing her first look inside the building she'd had her eye on for years. “Twenty years ago it was an established art gallery. But 20 years ago awareness of art was different. My feeling is that if you try to repeat what worked 20 years ago, it won't work now. This is a new world. This is what people want, what people are asking for. The brunt of our work is to bring art to the masses. Artists create to question, to exercise an
inner demon or to express whatever may surge from within. Art is controversial. It's not meant to please anybody.
Las Olas Art Center
10,000 sq. ft state-of-the-art facility showcasing more than 10 galleries featuring the finest in modern & contemporary Latin American, American & European art. Working studios and permanent installations for more than 20 resident and member artists. Open to the public daily. Call for info on special exhibits and events
600 SE 2nd CT
Ft Lauderdale , FL 33301
954/463.8833
elle@lasolasartcenter.com
www.lasolasartcenter.com
Mon-Sat 10-10, Sun 12-6
Next event:
Black and White Ball—A Benefit for AIDS Project Florida
Saturday, August 7
8:30 p.m. – 1:30 a.m.
$35 before August 1, $40 at the door
954/525.6313 for more info