Jennifer Meanley at Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center

The Paintings of Jennifer Meanley have an intuitive clarity that immediately sucks you in, leaving you not immediately sure why.
In the painting And in the End, The Monster Ate Them Both (2009) one sees a ghastly canine carcass laying on a table with a group of humans gathered around it in an exotically urban setting. The grouping of the dead and living in this work blurs the demarcation between life and death. This morbidity is echoed in tree branches that are half-barren and half-lush with vegetation. Stylistically, Meanly leaves some of the compositional elements loose and curious while rendering certain figures very specifically and individually. Despite the stoic nature of the humans’ facial expressions, the rhythm of the relationships between the eyes, nose and lips within the odd angularity of the facial bone structure combine with the color palette and composition to communicate nuanced emotions. As Meanley’s rendering shifts from tight to ghostly her color palette shifts from vibrant to dark, but it is always masterfully improvisational. In the end Meanley’s style and content combine to express a deep emotional reality that becomes finely surreal in such imaginative and proficient painting.
- David Jarred


Jennifer Meanley: 'Past Tense - Marking Time' at the Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center, 2727 Woodburn Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45206. Through January 8, 2010.
In Photo: Meanley, Jennifer. And in the End The Monster Ate Them Both, 2009. Oil on canvas, , 72x108in. Photo Courtesy of Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center.

Semantics: IDEA

IDEA: replace the D with a K to decode the title to the show curated by Julia Ranz. Twelve artists have created works that look at IKEA through a variety of lenses.

As an example, In “Inter-IDEA Systems” William R Howe and L.A. Howe have created a series of counterfeit storage system assembly manuals. These manuals tightly conform to the IKEA template and seem like ready-mades at first glance. Upon closer inspection the viewer realizes that the systems to be assembled are stackable prisons, an all-in-one brothel stand, a highly profitable healthcare system, and a fully customizable relationship. By taking mass-produced, customizable storage systems and ascribing them to human institutions the Howes have interjected humor into poignant observation: institutions have the ability to dehumanize by treating people as commodities.
The observation is most blatant and not as nuanced in EFFECTIV (the stackable prison storage solution) and IVAR (the profit maximizing healthcare solution). In STOLMEN (the all-in-one brothel system) and BILLY ( the fully customizable relationship) the message is stronger by being more nuanced and personal.

In a diverse and thought-provoking show other IDEA artists explore themes from compulsive shopping to the store-bought aesthetic.
- David Jarred

IDEA, Curated by Julia Ranz, at Semantics, 1107 Harrison Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45214. Through Sept. 26. Saturdays or by appointment 513-207-5262.
Photo: William R. Howe and L.A. Howe, 'Billy' InterIDEA Systems, 2009. Print.
[Editor's note: I met David Jarred while reviewing his show (see two posts earlier than this one) and invited him to write for AEQAI ]

David Jarred, 'Drawamalg' at 1305 Gallery

David Jarred’s 3D Drawamalg 7, 2009 resembles a storage container, or perhaps some kind of waste receptacle. But its appearance as such is belied by the materials (cast paper, acrylic paint) and color. Hence it appears like a use-object only somewhat, an idiosyncratic split between its form and light materials.

This is the sense of his work; they recall everyday objects but with subtle variations that negate one’s first association. One feels as if the ‘everyday’ - sometimes even foreign or menacing - is here seen through a child’s eye: the ‘amalgamation’ to which the artist refers in the titles.

The works are either white or single-hued (with varying values). Secondly, they are almost all perfectly symmetrical. This symmetry plays with the handwork/mark-making - the evident modeling of the paper or light strokes of the brush. Thirdly, the compositions tend towards enclosed, monolithic forms, offsetting the softness of the color and material with an illusion of strength.

As per the artist statement, the works are ‘both recognizable and instantly strange, like deja vu or a visit to some lost place from your childhood.’ If so, the childhood referenced here was a happy one. Hence the viewer’s transport is positive.
-A.C. Frabetti

David Jarred, 'Drawamalgs' at the 1305 Gallery, 1305 Main St, Cincinnati, OH. Through Sept. 19.
In Photos: 3D Drawamalg 7, 2009. Cast paper and acrylic paint, about 6" tall.
Drawamalg 1, 2009. Acrylic on paper, 11.5"x9.25" framed.