Conversations About Iraq at the CAC

‘Conversations About Iraq’ is a travelling project designed to stimulate discussion about the Iraq war. Its approach, though, is different than the usual discourse around this topic: an actual car destroyed in a bombing is towed behind a massive trailer. It creates a striking presence by being parked for a day in populated, busy areas while (in Cincinnati) Jonathan Harveya (a Platoon Sergeant in the US Army and reservist) and Esam Pashaan (an Iraqi translator, artist, and journalist) spoke with attendees.

It was followed by a sincere panel discussion in the CAC. Footage of previous locations was included at the panel of participants willing to be filmed; their recounting of personal experience in/with Iraq, such as also by Harveya and especially Esam, was the most touching aspect of the project, as per its goal.

This art project was designed by Jeremy Deller. It will not remain in its current form, for then it would be better categorized as purely humanitarian (and a wonderful one); I am curious what transformations will occur with the footage, car wreckage, etc. at its completion to elevate it to a poetic conclusion.

-A.C. Frabetti

Presented by Creative Time and the New Museum, ‘It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq.’ Commission by Jeremy Deller for the Three M Project.

Eric Ruschman at Semantics Gallery

Eric Ruschman cleverly occupied the Semantics gallery space with his recent show ‘My Tiger, My Heart.’ He integrated a mantelpiece into his art while painting (and grouping) several empty pedestals of different colors to coincide with his paintings. This occupation of the space and inventive transformation of its resources speak well of his talents.

The subject matter of his paintings is cuteness, using mostly images of kittens and color abstractions. This latter element creates a graphic arts effect, aided by the rounded corners of his works.

Normally, I am not drawn to this style of art. But his is so consciously made to be charming that it resists becoming bad kitsch or some other decorative arts disaster (singular here?). There is adoration and skill in the rendition of his subject matter and a successful balancing of abstraction, illustration and proportion.

I learned that he takes inspiration for his theme from the Japanese, like Hello Kitty and perhaps Anime. I find in this Japanese aesthetic the veiled form of an anxiety about Little Boy (the codename for the atomic bombing). Ruschman, instead, creates an art that is joyful through-and-through.

-A.C. Frabetti

my tiger, my heart: paintings and improvisations by Eric Ruschman. March 7-28th, 2009
Semantics Gallery, 1107 Harrison Ave. in the Brighton area of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Stephanie Evans at Awakenings

Stephanie Evans' recently showed a mix of abstract and semi-realist paintings at Awakenings Coffee and Wine. Her work therein was composed of soft pastel tones with the occasional burst of red. Her colors and compositions are decorative and also profoundly harmonious. I found her work to have a richly maternal quality to it - each work was soothing while also being bright and happy. Contributing to this effect (I first wrote affect instead of effect, appropriately!), her layered paint-texture recalls the sugary coating on dessert cakes.

Her abstract works also revealed a good sense of color play and composition.

She does not strive for an art form which is sublime, or powerful, or replete with narrative possibilities or profound interpretations; it is the work of someone transmitting either a serenity from her lifestyle or a longing for such through her work. I am guessing it is the former.

-A.C. Frabetti

Stephanie Evans Art work, March 01 2009 - Tuesday, March 31 2009, Awakenings Coffee, Tea, Wine, 2734 Erie Avenue Cincinnati, OH.

'Not in My Wedding Album' at Prairie Gallery

Laypeople often eliminate the most interesting photos from their repertoire in their effort to impose their own narrative upon an event, in this case a wedding.

The selection for the photos of the Prairie Gallery’s current exhibition ‘Not in My Wedding Album,’ was consciously made not so much for their artistic merits (save for a few) as for their purely narrative possibilities. The photos invite the viewer to freely interpret the truth of the event documented. For example, a bride holds the hand of a priest for a dance; she has a smile that could be mischievous or simply welcoming. A new couple walks together with the bride looking heavily downward (a photo by Bryn Weller, here to the right); the image could be interpreted as her disappointment or merely fatigue. I witnessed many visitors at the opening toying with various interpretations of a photo of a gentleman entering a room with a large sum of cash in his hand. The exhibition is fun.

This free play of the narrative element has a subtext: it reminds viewers that photography, like any technological reproduction of external events (such as video), is not an objective eye. This is an old idea but always worth reiterating. Here it is done especially well.

-A.C. Frabetti

'Not in My Wedding Album', at Prairie from March 20-May 9, 2009. Featuring the work of Jay Bachemin, Brad Smith, Bryn Weller, Nicole Dixon and Stephanie Carson. 4035 Hamilton Avenue Cincinnati, OH