Gallery Visit: Exhibition

A Dream world of Imagination: Charles E. Burchfield's Golden Year 

 

The theme of the exhibition was that of symbols that related to Charles Burchfield.  Many of the symbols correlated with human emotion and in particular, his.  A main theme was his relationship to the natural world.  Many crickets were reoccurring, making note of their hum, in written poems or short stories below the works.  

The gallery was set up so that there was minimal lighting.  The room was quite dim, with soft yellow light on the works of Burchfield.  Any works that seemed colorful however had a white lighting.  The walls were a soft off-white.  The space was set up so you enter the room and follow the wall to a bigger, more spaced out room with more works.  The inner architecture consisted of white walls and tile flooring. The movement of the gallery didn't seem to make much sense to me in terms of set up and I felt like it was easy for me to miss things based on how it was to be honest.

The artwork was organized by artist or theme.  In the Burchfield area it was of course just his works.  Then there was an exhibition of contemporary artworks that seemed to be grouped by material.  Jewelry was in close proximity to one another, as well as sculpture, fabric and experimental mixed media.  

Artworks were similar in the ways that the Burchfield Penney is contemporary artworks, so there were many modern artist's works there as well as local artists I noticed for the one exhibition. The artworks however differed in meaning and media.  The Art In Craft Media exhibition seemed to have many themes of social commentary through art.  

The works were framed mostly in black or minimalistic frames.  However large pieces which seemed to be older, such as select Burchfield paintings had a gold "flashier" frame.  The artworks were labeled by a white label to the left of the piece of artwork.  If there were works which were a series that took up an entire wall, the labels were placed together in a row vertically, in order of viewing right to left.  The artwork in some cases were closer together if by the same artist.  However generally the artwork seemed to be about a foot apart from one another.  

I thought going to the gallery to see the over all set up was something that I normally do on my visits.  This is due to the sole fact that I hope to either become an art curator or open my own gallery at some point.  One thing I noticed is that one of their sculptures I think it was called "The Wave" had spider webs on it and it didn't seem like it should so that had me thinking how often they keep track of those types of things.

Charles E. Burchfield The Salem Bedroom Studio February 21, 1917

watercolor, gouache and graphite on paper

A Dream World of Imagination: Charles E. Burchfield's Golden Year

The use of brush strokes within this piece is really nice.  It allows for there to be movement within the painting.  The perspective is also interesting, it gives us a first person perspective as if we are the painter, or at least seeing through the painter's eyes. This seems to be a bed post, (the end of the bed) within a dark, muted colored room.  The strongest component of this painting is the movement and use of contrast.  Although the contrast is not entirely dramatic, the way the upper portion of the painting contrasts with the lower, sets a mood.  The looming shadow above gives a familiar feeling.  As if I were a child seeing things on my wall in the night while in my bed.  This painting makes me feel anxious in a way.  Putting things together from what I observed from the show this painting was in, it seems as though Burchfield was in a way, very depressed or had a lot of anxiety.  He seemed  very lonely to me.

David Derner Dionysus Chess Set 2016

Cast bronze, cast iron, steel and Brazilian granite 

The Art In Craft Media exhibition

This piece was very interesting to me.  It was part of the show located next to the exhibit of Charles E. Burchfield's work, which was a collection of modern artworks.  The piece depicts women and men in chess pieces touching themselves with a large woman figure in the middle and a grape vine laid in front.  I think this is a good conceptual piece, perhaps examining or embracing the concepts of human sexuality and gender; how they work with one another or in a way also challenge each other.  I know Dionysus is the Greek god of fertility, wine and ecstasy however I am unsure of the mythological story behind the god.  

Yoonsook Bai Ryang Suspension 1990

monotype on paper

I love this print because I personally adore abstract artwork.  This piece is very conceptual which I enjoy.  There is good use of color and techniques that suggest a texture to the piece.  It reminds me of being scatter-brained in a way; what my mind would seemingly feel like from time to time when I have an overload, due to my overthinking and ever-growing knowledge.  It was a piece located upstairs to the Burchfield Penney, part of an exhibition I forgot to take the name of, however it was among other prints and photographs.  This piece does a good job of making the viewer wonder, what does this mean? So it is beautifully done in that sense and also is beautiful to view.