{"id":1696,"date":"2010-04-11T18:33:27","date_gmt":"2010-04-12T01:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp\/2010\/04\/artists_make_and_break_the_lin\/"},"modified":"2010-04-11T18:33:27","modified_gmt":"2010-04-12T01:33:27","slug":"artists_make_and_break_the_lin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/2010\/04\/artists_make_and_break_the_lin.html","title":{"rendered":"Flab (and missing muscle) in the lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Curators are entitled to put whoever they can get (and the director is
\nwilling to defend) in a show. I find it inconceivable, however, that a
\nNorthwest curator would mount an animals-in-art exhibit that failed to
\ninclude Seattle’s Sherry
\nMarkovitz<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Not in Rock Hushka’s The Secret
\nLanguage of Animals<\/i><\/a> at the Tacoma Art Museum:<\/p>\n

\"tacomasherrymarkovitz.jpg\"Encrusted over the
\nsurface of Markovitz’s fiberglass molds, gourds and papier mache are
\nmany
\nthousands of tiny glass beads woven into streams of colored light and
\nbordered with oil paint, leather and velvet, foil and nails, amulets and
\njewels.
\nAll that complexity becomes a simplicity in its realization.
\nHer sculptures are presences that come from time slowed down. Her deer
\nand bear heads aren’t trophies but relatives, linking us to all beings
\nwho lean into light and live by breath.<\/p>\n

In the Northwest on this
\ntheme, she is too big to ignore. Ignoring her becomes a statement, and
\nthat statement serves as the elephant in the room, invisible but
\ndeterminative, sour and eccentric.<\/p>\n

Hushka’s exhibit is still a pleasure. (My review here<\/a>.)
\nThe more time I spent in it, however, the stronger became the
\nconviction that a good effort could have been a great one, given certain
\nadditions and a lot of deletions. The exhibit wants to be all things to all
\npeople. Hushka is too good a curator  not to know that he padded in the
\ninterests of popularity. A starker survey would give the exhibit’s core
\nsamples a chance to reverberate in each other’s company.<\/p>\n

First, almost everything made
\nbefore 1960 needed to go. In this show, contemporary art sets the tone.
\nWith the sole exception of Audubon’s hand-colored engraving, Three-Toed
\nWoodpecker<\/i> from 1832 (a perfect accompaniment to Justin Gibbens<\/a>‘
\npresent day riffs on it), the mostly modest art from earlier eras needs
\nits own space in another show. Most of these prints and small paintings function
\nas florid digressions in sentences that want to be muscular. <\/p>\n

Second,
\nJoey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace<\/a>‘s eight cast glass sculptures from Bird
\nPages<\/i> are a dead spot where the ball won’t bounce, far from their
\nbest work. One might have slipped by, but twelve?<\/p>\n

Another big chunk that needed to go: Just say no to
\nthe corny, fey, conventionally literal and the whimiscal. <\/p>\n

Had the muscular been achieved, there are a few possible additions that could have augmented it, besides, of course, the essential Markovitz. The ones below would have been easy to get in Tacoma, not, in other words, the impossible dream.<\/p>\n

TAM owns Scott
\nFife<\/a>‘s LeRoy<\/i>, 2004. 118 x 78 x 120 inches, archival
\ncardboard, glue,
\nscrews. <\/p>\n

\"scottfifeleroy.jpg\"Of course it belongs
\nwhere it is, in the exhibit, but it would have been swell to offer a darker
\nside of Fife as well, something less ingratiating than the dog that
\nnormally sits as a greeter in the lobby.<\/p>\n


<\/i><\/div>\n

Wer
\nWulf<\/i>
\n25 x 25 x 34 inches, archival cardboard, glue, screws, 2007<\/p>\n

\"scottfifewolf.jpg\"<\/a>The
\ntouch of the mythological would not have gone amiss.<\/p>\n

Michael
\nSpafford<\/a> The Iliad #19<\/i>
\nwoodcut, 2004
\nimage 12 x 20″, paper size 19\u00be x 26″<\/p>\n

\"michaelspafilliad.jpg\"<\/a>I
\nwould have appreciated something from the heart of old Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Grant
\nBarnhart<\/a>, Elizabeth Taylor<\/i>, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12 inches<\/p>\n

\"grantbarnliztaylor.jpg\"<\/a>An  animal-in-art exhibit is a good place to explore 
\nthe anguish of
\nchildhood.<\/p>\n

Pat
\nDe Caro<\/a>, Toilet with Snake<\/i>, oil\/glassine,  2003 42 x 40″<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\"patdecarosnake.jpg\"<\/a> How about touching on the theme of the kinks in the Wild West?<\/p>\n

SuttonBeresCuller<\/a> Beast of Burden II<\/i>
\n2003
\nC-print on Sintra
\n18 x 24 inches
\nEdition of 5<\/p>\n

\"suttonberesbeast2.jpg\"Every exhibit is a
\nseries of
\nmoments. In great ones, the moments cohere into an overwhelming
\nconclusion. Hushka’s had the makings of great but settled for pleasing,
\nwell below his capabilities. <\/p>\n

Through June 27. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Curators are entitled to put whoever they can get (and the director is willing to defend) in a show. I find it inconceivable, however, that a Northwest curator would mount an animals-in-art exhibit that failed to include Seattle’s Sherry Markovitz. Not in Rock Hushka’s The Secret Language of Animals at the Tacoma Art Museum: Encrusted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}