“Can you believe that painting…?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The one on the right, at the end. Can you believe it?”

“What about it? What do you mean?”

“I mean…why would someone do that? That’s not art.”

“It’s not art?! why do you say that?”

“Well look at it. It’s not realistic…I mean it doesn’t make sense. The title of this thing is Shotgun…and that guy doesn’t have a shotgun. That’s crazy. And besides, what’s he pointing at? It looks like he’s in some classy house or the foyer of a business or something. How realistic is that? What’s he doing there? It just doesn’t make any sense…why someone would do that and call it art.”

“I guess it bothers you, huh?”

“No, it doesn’t bother me. I came here to look at art…not that. That’s not art. I just don’t know why anyone would do that…that’s what I don’t get.”

The image is a graphite and acrylic composition by Ernie L. Fournet of Louisiana. It received a Juror’s Choice award at the 2012 National Juried Show at The Academy of Fine Arts. During the opening reception for the show, while I was looking at this painting, it wasn’t long before it  became evident to me that not many others cared for it either–if one can draw that conclusion by how swiftly they passed it by. As I admired the precision and brilliance of its execution, I overheard a couple who did stop and look for more than a few seconds. And I couldn’t help eavesdropping…. Their exchange intrigued me almost as much as the unsettling power of the image they were discussing.

Protestations not with standing, this Shotgun was loaded and, I’d say, hit its target. That’s why, in my estimation, the purloined conversation went where it did: to disqualify this painting from being legitimate art. We do this all the time…. Real or legitimate “art” is seldom what we don’t like, have you noticed? How easily we dismiss, overlook, or ignore art that we find distasteful, intrusive, morally objectionable, or disturbing. And one of the most convenient ways to deal with it is simply to pretend it isn’t really there. That is, it isn’t there in the sense that it doesn’t qualify as something we’re looking for when we we’re looking for art. Georges Braque be damned…art is not meant to disturb! –Just like our nation’s chronic addiction to war…we do it, we know it, but it’s not really there because–hey, as the addict says–it doesn’t affect us day to day, at least not enough to be disturbed by it.

With technology, mercenary armed forces, and media masking we’ve largely succeeded in isolating the real costs–the familial and personal pain, the economic and social crippling–that comes with the price of perennial warfare. Most of us resist realizing that war and war-related enterprise is America’s principal economic interest. The business of America is not business…it’s the business of war.  We’re all shareholders in the corporation, our tax dollars sustain its operation, our fears fuel its demands, but how many of us bother to read the annual report in detail? Do we really have a clue, do we really care about the costs as long as we can harbor the illusion that ‘it doesn’t really affect me’?

The title of this painting, Shotgun, in the context our current wars, is an unmistakeable throwback to the Vietnam war reminding us–if we care to remember or know–of how we were conned into that wasteful tragedy that until now was the longest, costliest, war in our  history. The “domino effect” was calibrated to excite our fears about the threat of global communism and the fallacious “Gulf of Tonkin incident” justified our military assault on southeast Asia. Now we know better. But what difference did it make? Under the cover of “9/11” we bought into a new set of lies to justify new wars of choice for the sake of an ill-conceived set of economic interests in the Middle East. And after more than a decade of war and nation-building we have trumped the tragedy of Vietnam in spades, ignored international law, and re-framed the fundamental provisions of our Constitutional democracy. Not pleasant things to look at. Not comfortable thoughts to engage. And so…not a subject for art?

Out in the provinces where the sales live and foyers have fountains, art is pleasant, pretty, and pacific. There’s not a large market with the masses for art that unsettles the stomach or disturbs the mind. And why would there be? We don’t go to church for conflict and confrontation; we go for comfort and consolation. So why would we want art to challenge, mix things up, thumb its nose at our comfortable conventions, or make us work for its meaning? Well…we don’t have to buy it. But just because you or I don’t want to work or be bothered unnecessarily with the inconvenient facts of life, does that disqualify artists from doing so? Does that mean those subjects should be off-limits for artwork because they don’t suit our tastes?

So, about this powerful piece by Ernie Fournet and that conversation I overheard…. Is it reasonable to conclude that just because this painting disturbs the peace and doesn’t make the kind of sense we want that it isn’t art? I guess if you can’t tell a U.S. Service Rifle from a “Shotgun” then maybe you should be in a gun store rather than an art gallery. It’s probably a more American thing to do.

Lawrence Bowden

Visiting Filmmaker: Director, David E. Simpson

Fri, April 27
7pm

The Maasai tribe of Kenya and Namibia’s Himba–two of Earth’s oldest cattle cultures–are in the midst of upheaval. Emerging from a century of ‘white man conservation’ that turned their land into game reserves and fueled resentment towards wildlife, they are now vying for a piece of the wildlife-tourism pie. Charting the collision of ancient ways and Western expectations, Milking the Rhino tells intimate, hopeful and heartbreaking stories of people facing deep cultural change.

May 4 – June 24, 2012

First Friday Reception: June 1, 5:30-8:00pm

Amber Robles-Gordon is a mixed media artist who works mostly in assemblage. The work she creates is representational of her experiences and the paradoxes within the female experience. She focuses on fusing found objects to convey her own personal memories, inspired by nature, and her belief in recycling energy and materials. Robles-Gordon has been creating and extensively exhibiting her work for over 15 years. She has exhibited in California, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, New York, Ohio, Spain and throughout the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. Robles-Gordon has also been invited by the Smithsonian and other organizations to teach workshops and was commissioned by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities in 2010 to create a mural for the Windows in to DC project at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. In 2010, she also completed her Masters of Fine Arts from Howard University. Most recently, she has been granted an apprenticeship from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, D.C. Creates Public Arts Program.

Helina Metaferia is an Ethiopian-American artist specializing in mixed media artwork. She works with themes of power, self-realization, and femininity. An intuitive artist, she combines the process of introspective meditation and creative art forms in order to tap into a higher consciousness. Her art has been shown in museums and galleries nationwide. She has also completed over fifteen large scale murals in the Washington, DC region. Helina received her formal art education at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and at Morgan State University.  In addition to working as a fine artist, Helina is the founder of The Meta Experience, a visual and healing arts company that provides creative wellness services. She is a certified holistic practitioner in Integrative Yoga Therapy, Shiatsu and Thai Massage, and is a Reiki Master. She has been teaching visual and healing art classes in community based programs since 2004.

On First Friday, June 1st, we will also welcome members of the EC Glass Orchestra. Please join us for an evening of art and music as we support these young performers.

Saturday, April 21 at 1pm Kick Start Your Acting Career with Jen Lilley.  Ms. Lilley will discuss her career and offer tips and information.    $10/$5 students.    

Sat, April 21 at 3pm Cave of Forgotten Dreams Documentary about the oldest known pictoral creations of humankind from the Chauvet caves of France.Dir: Werner Herzog,  95 min. $5    

Sat, April 21 at 5pm Crime d’amour  A psychological suspense thriller starring Ludivine Sagnier and Kristin Scott-Thomas.Dir: Alain Corneau. 106min. $5    

Sat, April 21 at 8pm DIVA   Modern noir meets high opera in this new wave suspense film considered one of the most influencial movies in the past 30 years. Dir:  Jean-Jacques Beineix. 117min.  $5    

SUN, April 22 at 1:30pm Une vie de chat  An Academy Award nominated animated film for children of all ages as well as adults.  Dirs: Gagnol & Felicioli 70 min.  $5                         

SUN, April 22 at 3pm Les enfants du paradis  This portrait of the Boulevard du Crime in the 19th century is a sublime romance. A glittering new digital restoration.  Dir: Marcel Carne. 190 min.  $5    

SUN, April 22 at 7pm Les Amours imaginaires A comic exploration of a romantically obsessed menage-a-trois. Winner of the Youth Prize at the Cannes Film FestivalDir. Xavier Dolan. 95 min.  $5 ]]> http://www.riverviews.net/programs/films/cineviews-annual-film-festival/cineviews-film-festival/feed/ 0 http://www.riverviews.net/building-artist-blog/why-the-arts-matter-2/ http://www.riverviews.net/building-artist-blog/why-the-arts-matter-2/#comments Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:03:17 +0000 Riverviews http://www.riverviews.net/?p=5371 [...]]]> Have you noticed? –when money gets tight often the first thing that budget-teers want to cut is “the arts.” Why is that?

Well, Margy Waller, Vice President of the Cincinnati Fine Arts Fund (now called “ArtsWave”) thinks she knows. What she knows is that arts funding cuts are made not because people don’t like art or “the arts;” not because people fail to value art; and not because they are unwilling to pay for art they like (if they can afford it!) Money for the arts dries up because of the way we think about the arts. And the way we think is: the arts are not my responsibility. That means that we think the arts are not a public concern in the way, say, that roads, water systems, police or fire protection are thought to be.

After more than a year’s worth of study and research, that’s the conclusion the Cincinnati folks reached. The prevailing view of most Americans is that art and the arts is a matter of individual concern, more like an entertainment than a public good. That is, they are nice but unnecessary, entertaining but inessential, provocative but impractical, valued but not vital.

WRONG….

Wrong not as a matter of opinion but as a matter of fact. That’s what the research shows. Thinking of art or the arts as only another commodity that reflects one’s taste, class, or personal disposition ignores a profoundly significant fact: the ripple effect of the arts on the community. Those ripples make waves of public good. Research shows that in communities where the arts are thriving:

• neighborhoods are transformed and revitalized, properties are restored and renovated, the streets become safer and more interesting, and people return;
• local businesses, restaurants, boutiques experience an increase in patrons and sales as the area becomes more vibrant and lively;
• communication increases as new connections are made, information gets shared from a more diverse population, and a deeper and broader understanding of the world as well as the history and richness of the immediate area is discovered and enjoyed.

This is the reality. This is demonstrably what happens in cities and towns with vibrant and lively arts communities.

If this is what the arts actually do, why then do we persist in thinking of art as “nice but not necessary”? Is it not necessary for a community to revitalize neighborhoods, help its businesses to prosper, and increase its connections and communication with one another? If so then support and cultivation of the arts is a public good and not simply a matter of private taste. It is a shared responsibility and should be a function of civic pride and even moral conscience. The arts in our community, then, should not be left to passive consumers but become part of what we as active, responsible, citizens cultivate and support.

In brief, that’s the conclusion the Fine Arts Fund of Cincinnati reached when searching for an answer to the question: Why do the arts matter? Now, as an artist it’s encouraging to know that social science and communications research substantiates the social value of being an artist–especially when it is so frequently dismissed and often ridiculed by public policy makers or media mouth-offs. But frankly…that’s not why I do art. I’d like to believe–in fact I do believe–that my art has social value, even a social conscience. That’s part of the reason many artists show or perform their work. But that’s not at the heart of why art matters. I do art because it responds to one of the deepest of human needs: to make something, to be a creator rather than a creature of habit and routine all the time. It is my belief that when we have no creation in our lives, things go bad. To recognize the social and economic ripple effects of art is significant, probably essential for developing a shared sense of responsibility for the arts. But it is insufficient. If that’s all that made art matter it’d be like going to a an art museum to look at its architecture without ever going inside.

I care about ripple effects but I care more about the stone that enters the pool and lies deep within the quiet bottom of the pond. There’s an irony here. How can you say, put into words, why art matters when art exists to do what an argument, a spread sheet, or the newspaper can’t? Art is the one domain in life devoted to articulating exactly those elements of our experience that come before and lie beyond what we can say. Does that matter? Art is a different language. Asking why having that language matters is a little like asking why you need more than one string on a guitar. One string works fine; five just complicate the matter, right?

Looking at the “effects” of art on a community is not at all the same thing as looking at art, practicing or participating in it. Reframing why art matters from the personal and individual to its corporate and public effects may prove useful when arguing for a budget line, but in what direction does it advance our understanding? Is it the ART that matters or its presence in the community? The meaning and the value of art tends to be displaced from its source in inspiration and creation to the service it provides other interests. But trying to separate them is like asking what matters more–a person or their personality? One flows from the other. Both are important.

Answering the question of why art matters as though we have to choose between shared responsibility or personal self-interest is a false choice. We all live in both domains. So it’s important to remember when thinking about what matters that creativity and inspiration are not committee functions. They’re a function of the soul, or the human spirit. Art is what keeps us lively by giving us a language for what can’t be said, a look at or a vision of what can’t be seen, and a sense of presence with a great mystery that can’t be known–the mystery of Life itself. Art is a way of making that makes us matter–more like a cherry blossom than being a chairman of some board. The cherry tree with all the ephemeral beauty of its blossoms isn’t very efficient or conservative; it’s not stingy with resources or calculating about return; all those blossoms–while nice–really aren’t very efficient, but they are absolutely necessary. The cherry tree is nice not because it’s economic and efficient but because it is beautifully effective! The arts not only are nice, like blossoms, they are necessary. The effect they have makes us more human. Art stretches us with its demands and consoles us with its beauty; it exposes us to novelty, insight, and invention and contains what is precious, prescient, and sacred. It’d be hard to do without those things and stay human. That matters.

Lawrence Bowden

The Riverviews Artists’ Co-Op Gallery represents many of the artists who are tenants of the facility. The original art ranges from realistic to abstract, the media from oils and acrylics to photography, needlework, encaustic, etchings and serigraphs. The gallery serves as a catalog of available styles and methods and points the way to more extensive offerings in the individual studios.

Every two months a new and different show is mounted.  A member artist is featured on the front wall.

The hours of operation are:
Wed – Friday, noon – 3pm
Sat & Sun, 1 – 4pm

The gallery is staffed by the artists who comprise the Co-op. The staff person on duty will be happy to discuss the artwork on display with you.

The artists (studios) currently being represented by the gallery and their usual media are:

Karen Bowden (206)
Watercolor / Acrylic / Mixed Media
www.bowdenartworks.com

Judith Crespo (4-A)
Fiber Jewelry and Flamework Bead Jewelry
www.judicrespo.com

David Eakin (206)
Oil / Acrylic
www.davideakin.com

Jane Garrett
Pottery

Jill Jensen
Quilt /Textile / prints
www.jilljensenart.com

Dave Keebler
Oil / Acrylic

Ginny McCraw
Oil

Duane Nelligan
Oil / Watercolor / Pastel

Judy Noon
Ceramic and Sculpture (5H)

Purnell Pettyjohn
Watercolor / Oil

Lisa Pitcher
Photography
www.lisapitcher.com

Patty Powers
Fiber Art
brooksidefiberarts.blogspot.com 

Sallie Rabe
Oil

Rosalie Short
Oil

Gay Tucker
Oil

Katie Hill Vaden
Oil / Watercolor

Cindy Vener
Oil / Pastel
www.cindyvener.com

CINEviews 2010

Jen Lilley & Jean DuJardin on the set for The Artist

Please help us welcome Jen Lilley, actress from the OSCAR-winning film THE ARTIST.

The Gala, Night In Paris-part deux, will start at 6:30pm.

The evening will feature live music, dance performances, a Q/A with Jen Lilley and other surprises as well as delicious food from local restaurants, wine, beer and a special CINEviews cocktail!

Come back Saturday & Sunday for a full slate of French films!

Number of Tickets

One Ticket $65.00 USD Two Tickets $120.00 USD