'Chasing the Whale' at Gallerie Zaum and Marathon reading

‘Chasing the Whale’ is an exhibition in which several artists interpret Melville’s Moby Dick, beloved for its psychological and spiritual symbolism.
Danielle Wallace’s Moby-Dick Tea Set, 2009 features a large central, grey/whitish teapot (the whale) surrounded by warmly colored mugs (the seamen). It pours its essence (the tea) into the mugs (the humans; one is even crippled, as per Ahab). This is the idea of the whale as Self, or essence, cleverly employed and beautifully executed (only one white mug seems out of place).

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'Stitches in Time on the Olympic Peninsula' at NKU

Kevin Muente, painter, and Robert K. Wallace, writer, collaborated in the exhibition “Stitches in Time on the Olympic Peninsula” currently on view in the Third Floor Gallery of NKU through September 25th. The narrative elements of Wallace coupled with each painting make an exhibition in which the critical is integrated. Instead of a review of the show, we reproduce a fragment here. We encourage a visit; a book is in production:

Fragment from Wallace:

The Muentes’ software has a stitching function that can turn two, three, or four adjacent photos back-to-back into the single panorama we had seen with the naked eye. Each day, in this way, Kevin gathered images and impressions for the studio paintings he would be making back home. He completed the first of those paintings in August of last year, quite soon after our return. He completed the last of the nineteen in August of this year, two weeks before this show.


Muente strives to avoid the conventional “picturesque” postcard scene unless it absolutely hits you in the face and cannot be denied—as when sun is setting in a molten haze between huge seaside rocks at Ruby Beach, for example. Instead of exploring the gleaming beach to the south, we sat on a massive rock and watched as the sun took forever to set, seemingly on the other side of the world.
- Wallace

“Stitches in Time on the Olympic Peninsula. ” Paintings by Kevin Muente and Narrative by Robert K. Wallace” in the Third Floor Gallery of the Fine Arts Center, Northern Kentucky University. August 24 – September 25, 2009.
In Photo: Muente, Kevin. Ruby Beach, 2009. Oil on canvas.