discussion

Last night was the Artist Talk for Play and it was a very intimate talk as the physical body turn out was low. But the quality of discussion and sharing was awesome. I think that the reason that I blog, curate, start collectives, and go to residencies is really for that. Interesting, compelling, and even challenging discourse. As an artist you are so often alone in your studio, comfortable in your own process and thoughts and once you are out of the womb of academia you could get STUCK there. So I truly treasure when I have the opportunity to talk to artists which I honestly respect and admire whether it be in a studio visit, a critique, or an artist talk.

Last night was incredible. We all sat around a table in the middle of the gallery with some wine and strawberries and talked. Each artist ended up revealing how their pieces had so much more complexity then I even realized. It was amazing as one of the goals I had in curating this exhibit was to show the complexity within the idea of play- How in one moment in can be joyful and quickly turn dark. How one may be experiencing play while another experiences torture. I wanted the viewer to initially come in and see the exhibit and experience its colorful jubilant nature but as the viewer took time with the individual work they would realize how much more complex the work, the show, and the idea of play is/was.

Funnily, all the artist, in revealing more about their work and practices, made my curation even more successful as they all seemed to be connected to this very idea in some way or another.
It was truly an honor to be a part of the discussion and have such an intimate and thoughtful evening with them.