Visited the somewhat new gallery, Giola for the first time. However, the visit was quiet disappointing, as the work there was not of great interest. Some of the most inviting work worth exploration was found in the Gescheidle, and Walsh galleries.
Gescheidle showed several works by Fred Stonehouse "Songs and Dreams." The paintings in the exhibit usually portrayed a human head at its center often surrounded by letters, quotes, words i.e. dream of ming, ming, dream of st. John, perko,rice lake, chanson de bois, etc. These characters are somewhat exaggerated, as some either lack a torso, or contain an animal body (human-animal morphs). For instance, work entitled "Dream of Ming" displays the head of Ming with a bird torso, holding a snake in its claws. I found his work fascinating, engaging, and meaningful, although I could not figure out exactly what all the words were referring to, i.e. Perko. After goggling that at home, I found that it could refer to a company that manufactures marine products, which does not really explain anything in terms of the imagery in his painting. His work might appear as a social commentary (or it did to me at first glance) but as the titles insinuate these are his songs and dreams, they are not necessarily realistic, and contain both aspects of the real, and the dream world. For instance, he places Ming, or St. John within his own created context, his own dreams which we cannot nor are we suppose to fully understand. By looking at his work, we are looking into a mythical world created by another's mind/hand. His use of subdued colors draws the viewer into his paintings and the use of his "supposed" allegories causes the viewer to engage with his work for a long period of time, hoping for some glimmer of recognition in these "supposed" use of symbols. This is exhibit worth checking out at Gescheidle.
The gallery is open Tues.-Fri. 10:30Am-5:30Pm. Sat. 11Am-5Pm. 118 N. Peoria, 4th Floor
The Walsh gallery had several interesting works on display, but the ones I found worth writing about were the photographs by Gao Brothers entitled "Sense of Space." The photogrpahs either show nude males or clothed females cramped into box type constructions. The spaces are not large enough for their body, hence they bend their bodies into various positions, trying to fit them as best as they can into the space provided. As the quote from the Walsh Gallery website states: "As the photographers have explained: “Our series is widely misread as having homoerotic content. In fact we are trying to explore human relations…the cramped circumstances and lack of privacy and freedom in contemporary life, as well as barriers to personal and shared experience.” What the Gao Brothers intended on representing with their photographs is best communicated in the works contianing the females, who are clothed. The nudness of the male body distracts the viewer from the main point of the work. Although, we do see cramped bodies in both, the repetition of boxes and their nude bodies imply that there is something more inherent in them being nude rather than them being in a small/cramped space. Overall, these are worth looking at because of their composition and social commentary.
The gallery is open Tuesday–Saturday 10:30–5:30 118 N. Peoria, 2nd Floor
It is worth noting that Gescheidle specializes in Contemporary representational painting/drawing, while the Walsh gallery specializes in Contemporary Asian Art.
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