Week Fifty Two

My Chris Ware story — part of a larger piece on comic art — will run in the upcoming issue of Art Scene Iowa. I’ll publish it here once it’s out. For anyone who missed Ware’s talk, it’s available via a webcast on the Sheldon’s web site. Ware was funny, engaging and smart. I highly recommend checking out the dialogue between him and Dan Siedell here.

In other news, four shows are opening this Friday at the Bemis Center. I’ll be writing about a few of them, most notably Karen Kunc’s solo show. I wrote a story this week for the Reader about the upcoming Bemis Underground show, curated by Nic Bartlett and Rachel Ziegler, which looks to be super interesting, as is the norm at the BU. Click on the image at right for more information on the party they’re throwing next Friday night. I had to buy a new pair of black shoes so I could donate an old one (or at least that’s what I told myself.)

This Saturday I’m traveling to Nebraska City to visit, for the first time, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. Lincoln artist Clarisse Hastie creates collage work inspired by her home, the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. I’m also going to try and do some thrifting and eating while I’m in town, and maybe get a few apples just for good measure.

I’ll be starting a new job next week so I might be a bit slower on updating, for the two people that are likely looking at my blog. But rest assured I’ll do my best to keep posting as usual. I hope to see more comments posted on here at some point — I’m always interested in feedback. Thanks for reading.

by Sarah Baker

By the time someone calls you “of the moment,” you’re usually passé.

Select Cuts, a carefully curated group show at the Jewish Community Center Gallery, avoids that stigma. It focuses on a handful of young, up-and-coming Nebraska artists and, for the sake of being taken seriously, throws in a few familiar young people who are already among the area’s most accomplished new faces.

The show’s curator, artist J. Lynn Batten, writes an intriguing statement on the show’s invitation, outlining the show’s goal of exhibiting artists that in some way are “set apart.”
“For as long as there have been established art communities, there have been artists within them who usher in new practices, principles and perceptions of expression,” the statement reads. “While often varying in media and subject matter, the collective power of these individual’s work has had the ability to revolutionize the definition of art.”

Including new work by Peggy Gomez, Joey Lynch and Jake Gillespie — the three original founders of Lincoln’s still-closed Tugboat Gallery and some of the most innovative young artists in Nebraska — gives the show a solid base and fits in perfectly with its goal. All three show excellent pieces, each building on work they’ve shown in the past.

Lynch, newly transplanted to Omaha with a studio snuggled in the basement of the Bemis Center, shows a few new prints that have a more painterly feel than his older work.
“America’s Hardest Hitting” features his familiar kitschy screen print work to one side, but lower on the piece, there are visible brushstrokes, as though he painted over the screen print, or did some brush work before printing. Regardless, he seems to be moving his technique somewhere new.

Gillespie shows two pencil drawings, done in his familiar style. His recent focus has been more on video pieces, but he doesn’t show that work here, instead focusing on the two-dimensional. Gomez shows a few mixed media pieces, the best being “Mixed Media with Zeppelin,” featuring a little floating blimp suspended in front of a familiar Gomez collage.
Paris-based artist Anthony Mundy shows a series of illustrations that are some of the most humorous pieces I’ve seen in some time. They don’t take themselves too seriously and invite the viewer to break the gallery stigma of silent art perusal: In fact, my gallery viewing companion and I laughed boisterously a number of times while we looked at his work. Our favorite was a small drawing of a cow sitting in an armchair watching a television. A bubble above the cow’s head read something akin to the film being “moooving.” The animal’s big, watery eyes and gangly body made me think of vintage “Ren & Stimpy” cartoons. A viewer needs to see it to appreciate.

Omaha artist Andrew Hershey, a printmaker and installation artist, presented photographic works that juxtaposed domestic scenes — kitchens, doorways and other images swiped from a suburban enclave — behind ghostly, partially transparent humans doing tasks in the spaces. They felt moody and had an American Beauty-esque feel of detachment and isolation; whether this was deliberate, I couldn’t tell. His artist statement says he aims to capture the mundane and the beauty of everyday occurrences: The work accomplished that goal, but for this viewer also had an intriguing layer of disconnection.

Lincoln fiber and fashion artist Mary Pattavina showed three whimsical hats that I really, really wanted to put on my head (I refrained). “Victorian Itty Bitty Cocktail Hat,” “Mustard Itty Bitty Cocktail Hat” and “Brown Itty Bitty Cocktail Hat” were transported from a different era and planted in a gallery. One had a tiny satin veil, a second had a big, gold flower and the final had a brown ball made of feathers. They were Christina Aguilera meets Lady Di meets Dame Edna but with an extra dose of class. It’s hard to mesh vintage with now and not be either kitschy or dated: Pattavina’s work achieved the perfect balance and that balance, above all, made me want to wear it.

Select Cuts continues at the Jewish Community Center Gallery, 333 S. 132nd St., through Feb. 27. Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

– When I was younger, my sister and I rabidly read “X-Men” and “Red Sonja” comics. So when I heard Bemis resident Dane Watkins created an online, animated comic, I was all about learning more. “The Call of the Dead” is a 22-part, animated, black-and-white comic strip, a new “episode” premieres daily at eatmydata.co.uk (click on the skull). The story is one of “zombie love” and the work is basically a series of skulls, animated in line drawing. The animation spans three paneled strips, and skulls in each strip “communicate” via flying balls, catapults, gears, conveyer belts, pulleys, mechanical arms and human hands.

The tone of the piece is slightly sentimental. It’s about love, but with a sort of seedy underbelly — after all, these are lovelorn zombies. The pieces continue running online through Feb. 25. The final episode will be unveiled at a closing party Saturday, Feb. 24 at the Bemis Underground, 12th and Leavenworth. Online viewers can sign up for a daily email reminder to check out the next episode of the strip during its run. Also, take a look at the link that gives instructions on how to apply a temporary “eat my data” tattoo. The pictures are a trip.

– If you have a blank space that needs immediate filling, check out the Lincoln Print Group’s sale Feb. 22-24 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The sale features original prints from UNL faculty, undergraduate and graduate students in all sizes and media. The sale features a benefit raffle featuring some framed pieces, proceeds going to support the group. The sale is held on the UNL campus, Richards Hall, Room 121.1. Hours are 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb 22; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23 and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24. For more information, call 402.472.5522.
— Sarah Baker

Sketchbook is about all things related to art and artistry in Omaha, Lincoln and Council Bluffs. We cover anything from new projects to calls for artists. Please send information to sketchbook@thereader.com.

Hope everyone out there had a nice Valentine’s Day. I know I did.

My Q&A with Ware ran in abbreviated form in the Reader. I won’t post it here because I already posted the entire text, but check it out in this week’s issue if you like. It’s free and available everywhere.

For next week’s issue of The Reader, I’ll be writing a review of a show called “Select Cuts” currently showing in West Omaha at the Jewish Community Center Gallery. My column focuses on an upcoming show by Bemis Resident Dane Watkins centering on his virtual comic called “The Call of the Dead.”

Also, I’m working on another Chris Ware story for Art Scene Iowa, which will be running later in the month as part of a larger story about comic art.

Comics, all of a sudden, are everywhere.

I’ll be in Lincoln on Friday for the conversation at Sheldon between Chris Ware and Sheldon Curator Dan Siedell, who tells me that the museum expects a packed house. The event starts at 5:30 and seating is first come, first seated. I’d stand, outside in the bitter cold maybe, to hear Chris Ware speak. I’m guessing it’ll be a whose-who of artists and art people from both Omaha and Lincoln, so I’ll see you there.

– Art collectors get used to choosing the work of artists they love; this time, a number of them are doing it for a good cause. MEDICI (which stands for Most Esteemed Donors, Intellects, Colleagues and Individuals), a friends group that supports UNL’s Department of Art and Art History, is throwing a fundraiser Saturday, Feb. 17 at the campus’ Eisentrager-Howard Gallery. Modern Medicis: A Collector’s Showcase invited Nebraska collectors to name artists they admire. The selected artists each contributed a piece, and at the event, the 30 pieces will be distributed to each Premium Ticket holder who will pay $300 admission and walk out with not only a good time but a new piece. Those not interested in buying a work can attend for $50.

Collectors such as Robert and Karen Duncan, Norman Geske, J.B. Milliken and Nana Smith and Larry and Judy Roots chose artists — Santiago Cal, Karen Kunc, Deb Oden, Craig Roper and Allan Tubach, to name a few — to donate pieces. The works are on display now at Eisentrager-Howard. All money raised goes back to support the department. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact MEDICI president Tom Woods at twoods@woodscharitable.org.

– In late January the Durham Western Heritage Museum dedicated a gallery to Dick and Trish Davidson for their contributions to the Omaha arts community. The Trish and Dick Davidson Gallery includes many of the museum’s exhibits on the area’s rail history, including an 1890 Union Pacific steam engine — an appropriate choice because Davidson is also chairman of the Union Pacific Corporation. The museum also announced plans to create a special exhibition exploring Union Pacific and the beginnings of the transcontinental railroad in Omaha.

– Photographer Matel Rokke explores herself in The Self: Collections and Memories at Lincoln’s Lux Center for the Arts. Rokke grew up in Lincoln and uses a number of different photographic formats and processes, along with melding photography and three-dimensional objects. The show runs through Feb. 25.

— Sarah Baker

Sketchbook is about artistry in Omaha, Lincoln and Council Bluffs. Send information to sketchbook@thereader.com

Blindcritic

The opinion of the Blind Critic is to be an electric conduit for honest and forthright feet-to-the-fire gallery experiences. As information flows, the critics’ opinion generates interest or disinterest, validates or alters perceptions and glorifies or vilifies artists’ works and presenters’ exhibitions.

BEMIS UNDERGROUND
BEMIS CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS

“BART VARGAS: ONE MAN’S TRASH”
OPENING RECEPTION JANUARY 26, FROM 7-10 P.M.
12TH AND LEAVENWORTH STREETS, OMAHA, NE 68102

Gallery statement: The Bemis Underground is a basement level gallery space suited to present visual, audio, and performance art in an interactive environment dedicated to experimentation. Six curators, selected by jury, are allotted five weeks and a stipend to execute projects of their design. A new group of Project curators are selected every spring for the following year.

The show: “Bart Vargas: One Man’s Trash,” runs through Feb. 24. In some way the show is a survey of the work Vargas has done during the past few years. He focuses on a few key types of work — paintings, sculptural spheres, installations and his newest edition, dolls, all made of his own and other people’s discarded junk. He threw a few wild card elements into the show — for this viewer, the unexpected elements were the highlight. “Nuclear Winter” is one of the newest works in the show and its one that Vargas struggled with. Originally his thesis project, he abandoned the piece after deciding he didn’t like it, eventually creating “Nest” for his thesis. (“Nest” is a giant nest of coiled keyboards, cordless phones, cables, wires, and other old electronic junk that Vargas spent more than three years collecting. In the center sits a huge egg covered with discarded keyboard keys all in a muted shade of grayish white.) Nuclear Winter’s 111 paintings are all the same shape — hexagons — but of different thickness and different sizes. Each is intricately layered with stenciled snowflakes; The paint in some cases is carefully applied, in others, it was clearly sloshed on, splattered on or sprayed on. Approached as a whole, the piece is like visual candy. Even singularly, the works are a feast for the eyes.

The welcome: The Bemis Underground shows aren’t just an opening, they’re a packed out party. More than 400 made a stop in this show; this amount of people has become the norm and is what makes the often artistically challenging shows such fun to check out.

The accessibility: Vargas made the rounds during the crowded opening; members of the Bemis Center staff were on hand to answer questions and welcome visitors.

The ambiance: The space is a bit awkward and challenging to fill. Vargas does an excellent job of using every bit and using it well. He even fills a small back room with heaps of discarded junk, further playing on the title of the show.

The nosh: Beer and wine, gallery staples, were here, as were cheese and crackers. The highlight for me were tiny, liquor filled candies in flavors like Courvorsier.

The sale: The paintings didn’t have wall tags or prices; all of the work is for sale and a price list was available.

The final thought: This space continues to bring challenging work to a fresh, young crowd. As the seasons continue, the work only gets better.