Day 255 Anything Goes

August 21, 2015

(If we live with an open and grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during the year I turned 70.)

"Anything Goes" exhibit at Gallery 788 with comfortable conversation area.

I volunteered to gallery sit this afternoon at Gallery 788 where I have four photos in the current exhibit, Anything Goes, and where Baltimore’s diverse talent shines. Owner Eduardo was busy preparing for another nighttime event.

This afternoon was quiet with a few interesting visitors. A small boy wandered up the steps to the second floor gallery. He was alone, appeared with an antique eggbeater and began to talk as if we were longtime friends. (The strangeness of it reminded me of the little prince who suddenly appeared and asked the downed pilot to draw him a sheep.) This loquacious child was confident and bright—really quite delightful. He pointed out that he had come up the steps by himself. When I asked him where his grown-up was, he said she was downstairs. After about five minutes his grown-up appeared, explaining that she wanted to give him some space to explore. In a few days, he will begin kindergarten.

Another artist who was gallery sitting, Allie, and I talked for a while. Then a tall, bearded black man appeared and jumped into a metaphysical conversation that included love, history, science, math, women... and more that eludes my memory just now. While I listened to Jorge Ekwueme reach out on tangents and miraculously pull diverse facts and ideas together, my brain skidded around inside my head, trying to keep up. Now I know what mental friction burn is. What is the origin of origins?

Anything Goes would be a good name for Gallery 788. You never know what might happen but whatever it is, it’s bound to be interesting and thought provoking.

My gift today is a metaphysical discussion.

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Day 256: Good Energy


You can find links to my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Day 240 Black and White

August 6, 2015

(If we live with an open and grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during the year I turned 70.)

Artist Nakia Kigler stands next to her art, Both Sides, hanging at Gallery 788 during August, 2015.

Tonight’s exhibit at Gallery 788, Anything Goes, opened many doors to discussions among attendees. One of my favorite pieces was Nakia Kigler’s Both Sides, a large piece created with wood stain, polyurethane and oil paint on paper. The left side represented Caucasian skin color and the right African American. The middle held both sides together with a partial and imperfect line of stitches. 

Nakia says that she creates “layers of information to dive into.” That she did with this piece and we talked about that tonight—about how people relate and take away different perceptions of her art, of anyone’s art. The viewer does not need to understand the artist’s purpose and that is okay. For instance, a poem can have one meaning for the poet and another for the reader. Much of Nakia’s work deals with the human body. For her senior thesis at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art), she focused on skin, both its physical and metaphorical layers. 

When I saw Both Sides, I immediately connected it with Baltimore’s recent racial tensions and the need to stitch and heal but, at the same time, I felt the physical pain that one feels when a wound is stitched. Also flashing across my mind were stories of Ise Koch, wife of the Nazi commandant of the Buchenwald camp during WWII, who was accused of making human skin ornaments from murdered concentration camp inmates, including lampshades. And now 70 years after the war, in the Republican presidential candidate debate, Dr. Ben Carson states, “The skin doesn’t make them who they are…it’s time for us to move beyond that.” Maybe there’s some truth in that but skin does affect who other people think we are, how they interact with us, and what opportunities we may or may not have. 

I believe the greatest contribution of art (visual, literary, performing) is opening needed discussions and bringing people together. It may very well be art that will redeem us. 

My gift today is layers.

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 > Day 241: Strange Customs

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html