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Selby Gallery presents work of Voshardt and Humphrey

Selby Gallery is showing the art of Robyn Voshardt and Sven Humphrey with an installation of six new video/sound works, beginning with a lecture Thursday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m., and opening reception Friday, Oct. 15, from 5-7 p.m. The exhibit continues through Nov. 13.

The installation – part of the gallery's "Constructing Realities" series – includes a wall-sized video projection complete with surround sound. A video monitor project with sound audible from the sidewalk is visible in the front window to the left of the gallery entrance. While this is the first solo exhibition of Voshardt/Humphrey's work in Sarasota, their work has been seen in St. Petersburg, where they have a studio, at the Tampa Museum of Art and several times in group shows at the Ringling Museum of Art. This husband-and-wife team, who have worked together since they met at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, have also seen their work exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Danforth Museum of Art in Massachusetts.

There are five works to be seen in the gallery, and they range in duration of several minutes to almost 10. Part of the artists' interest in showing work of varied lengths is to engage the viewer with active contemplation of time and the issue of patience in experiencing their work. They provide a great variety of visual and sound material to witness, confront and enjoy. For the two artists, sound and image may be developed independently and joined together to by synchronized or contrasted. The visual elements may come from a performance in the studio, footage they captured outside or digital video created with their equipment. They are accustomed to pushing the technology available to them to its limits, such as building sound from 60 to 100 tracks. In the end, the process is not evident in their creations, except in the question that is presented for the curious viewer.

The work "Channel" focuses our attention on color and light, while changing colors dissolve one into another. It also stimulates recollections of associations we might make between light and sound. Whle ideas for this piece were germinating, the artists were thinking about Albers and Pollock and the idea of the elements of a painting being fluid instead of fixed.

"Strand" (3.5 minutes in length) presents an image of fingers combing and pulling through a head of red hair. The motion through the hair is slow, and the release is fast. The sound was derived from a recording of piano music.

In "Flow" (8.5 min.), the visual of a tearful eye is accompanied by the sounds – constructed of more than 20 tracks – of water being stirred, poured or going down a drain. This work, in particular like much of John Cage's work, is a test of patience for the subjects on both sides of the experience.

In "Feed," we have an overhead view of fish in a pool. It is not clear at first whether the fish are responding to rain or food dropping into the water. Though not discernable as connected to the weather, sound elements were actually appropriated from a weather radio. In this work, the viewer's sense of time and control are suspended as we wait for action and response to occur.

The video "Cloudland" starts with a text: Soon we must worry about time, but not for almost a day, followed by 25 to 30 sublimely beautiful color stills of clouds that dissolve from one to another. The experience of this video instills in the viewer awe and wonder. Because the clouds and the sky fill the wall in front of us, it is as if we were in a balloon basket looking out, suspended in space and completely controlled by the whims of nature.

All the works in the exhibition focus on brief isolated moments or actions that the artist have amplified into an invented space. The viewer's experience will be affected by whether the room where the videos are projected is empty or full, since the presence of others will shift the viewer to recognize or edit another person's interaction and/or response.

Making video is process oriented and is about layering and editing. Voshardt/Humphrey's work may bring to mind the work of Bill Viola and Gary Hill, two of the better known artists working in this medium; however, the work of Voshardt/Humphrey is more existential. Their work is conceptually based, yet narrative in the way the viewer perceives its construct.

To the artists, it is important that their work is visually pleasing. They come to their work as observers open to many ideas and stimulus and, at some point, make decisions about how they will produce the video. Voshardt/Humphrey take risks in their work calculated to push them and the viewer to address issues including: randomness, chance, construct and beauty.

Ultimately, these works help us accept that both the concept and construct of reality or fiction is a perception we have in moments of time that are evanescent.


© Mark Ormond, 2004
Originally published in "About Art," Pelican Press, Siesta Key, FL, October 14, 2004

Art Buzz
Inside the visual arts with Mark Ormond

The paintings of the late David Budd, an acclaimed artist who was born in St. Petersburg, attended the Ringling School of Art and is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art, are included this month in an exhibition at the Thomas McCormick Gallery in Chicago (along with works by Robert Motherwell and Arshile Gorky). McCormick saw the pieces when he came to Sarasota in January to visit with April Thurber, Budd's daughter, and her mother, Corcaita Cristiani Bowes. Bowes says McCormick was especially interested in the paintings from the 1950s and chose about two dozen. Budd's most recent exhibition in Sarasota was organized by Kevin Dean for the Selby Gallery of the Ringling School. The Ringling Museum of Art acquired several of his paintings for the permanent collection in the late 1990s.

Sarasota sculptor William Tarr, who was in three Whitney Museum exhibitions in the '60s and created the sculpture that welcomes the public to the Sarasota County Administration building on Ringling Boulevard, has had two major works acquired by the Neiman-Marcus Collection for their store in Coral Gables. Julie Kronick, corporate art curator for Neiman-Marcus, says they were so pleased with the Coral Gables sculptures the store commissioned Bill to make a work for the Dallas store, too…Fellow artist Robert Giordano had one of his major sculptures purchased by Manatee Community College in Bradenton and placed in front of the art gallery there. Gallery director Joseph Locissano says, "When the sculpture landed on the site, it seemed like it belonged there."…Dennis Kowal, who has several sculptures in downtown Sarasota, was feted last month at the annual Sculpture Key West exhibition at Fort Zachary Park. This show, which could be seen by land, sea and air, included the work of more than 65 artists.

The new airport security procedures caused a bit of a setback for artist Sandy Winters, who created a room-sized installation for Selby Gallery in January. Her crates were sent on ahead of her; and when no one was there when they landed in Miami to explain what was inside and why they were setting off the metal detectors, security tore the crates apart, damaging her work. Fortunately she was able to repair and reconstruct the various components.

Goodheart Plaza in downtown Sarasota was recently dedicated by Mayor Richard Martin, who called it "an example of the kind of collaboration we want to see more of downtown." When the city decided to reconfigure the intersection of Pineapple and Lemon Avenues near Ringling Boulevard, they asked artist Nancy Goodheart Matthews to create a new concept for her original fountain design there. She did so, with the result being wonderful narratives told with creatures springing from her imagination. Art dealer Allyn Gallup raised $7,500 by selling fragments of the original plaza floor; that money plus a donation of $25,000 from Mr. and Mrs. Sam Hamad will go into a special city maintenance fund for the area.


© Mark Ormond, 2005
Originally published in "Art Buzz," Sarasota Magazine, Sarasota, FL, April 2005

London's Tate Modern offers art, architecture and amenities...

The new Tate Modern in London offers the best of modern art and amenities in a landmark building that is located on the banks of the Thames. A new span designed by Norman Foster crosses the river and connects the Tate to the central business district of London. Herzog & Meuron, the team of Swiss architects who were recently awarded the commission to design the expansion of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, have succeeded in meeting an extraordinary challenge in transforming an electrical power station into a museum that works well on every level.

Its rooftop restaurant and bar aglow at night awe the viewer from across the river. Issues of scale humble the visitor experiencing the soaring eight story height and football field length of the building's entrance lobby that dwarfs the physical mass of hundreds of school children waiting for tickets.

I elected to go directly to the café since it was one o'clock and I had begun my morning with a long walk through Kensington Gardens about a mile away by subway (the tube). One of my criteria for a visitor friendly museum is that it has several choices for dining and the Tate offers three. The café is on the ground level and my table offered a great view of the riverwalk and river traffic. No sooner had I sat down and ordered than my Minton gently carbonated water, Fentiman's Ginger Beer (est. 1905 & botanically brewed,) chicken cumin wrap with mint, tabouli and tomato sour cream drizzle arrived. The place was bustling with activity. I relaxed ordering a coffee while next to me three mothers with sleeping infants had a delightful chat.

After a quick stop in the Bookstore (no gift shop here) I perused dozens of modern art periodicals from all over the world, gazed over the extraordinary offering of recent books and catalogues, noted they had slides for sale (I teach) and calculated less than 5% of the shop area was dedicated to museum related products or "gift" items. From the shop I took an escalator to the first exhibition floor. Like the Pompidou in Paris, every floor of the museum is accessible by escalator or elevator.

My experience in the first room established my expectation for the remainder of the galleries and the Tate delivered. Here I found a cluster of Bonnard paintings with a bench to light upon and an acoustiguide wand to delight me. I was offered eight choices. I could hear the history of the painting, Bonnard's colour theory, what clothes tell us or Bonnard's nephew, Charles Terrace, describe his visit with his uncle in 1949. Next to this gallery cantilevered over the soaring height of the lobby was a small space the architects had added as a reading room. There I saw a grandmother speaking with a boy I guessed was about 7. She was seated at a small table where books on Bonnard had been placed. While trying awfully hard to indulge her the lad found he had to question why Grandmummy was looking at pictures in books when the actual paintings were in the next room.

The permanent collection galleries are filled with surprising installations. Interpretive options abound. One gallery had only objects begun or completed in 1951, another recreates a room Mark Rothko designed to hang six of his paintings he gave to the Tate in 1969. These had originally been painted for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York. Another room with a double height ceiling and light streaming in from one side displayed major works by Joseph Beuys. They included a version of his The End of the Twentieth Century from 1983, that is basalt, clay and felt objects the size of human bodies. Another work Blitzschlage is a monumental bronze about 21 feet high that looks like a giant slice of the earth's crust hanging from an I-beam that crosses two corners of the room.

Another powerful juxtaposition was a wall-size Richard Long mud drawing the English artist had created across from a wide horizontal painting by Monet of Water Lilies. During my visit the temporary exhibition provided the work of Arte Povera artists. That show will travel to the Walker Art Center this winter. After three hours of making my way through the entire museum and the special exhibitions galleries I craved a coffee and headed to the 7th level and the skyline café overlooking the Thames.

Currently on view through January 1, 2002 is the exhibition Surrealism: Desire Unbound featuring works by Duchamp, Max Ernst, Magritte, Dali and Giacometti. The Tate has live webcasts of some of its events. For more information visit the Tate's website at tate.org.uk

©Mark Ormond, 2001

Humor and art...

For me the best humor is in some way self deprecating because it reveals the vulnerability of a person trying to be funny. A person tells a story about some issue or incident we can all recognize and then finds humor in some aspect of the daily dilemma of being human. A person who can laugh at her/himself gives the listener permission to laugh as well...to share the experience of being vulnerable. For me the worst humor is cynical, acerbic or condescending. It is engaging in a way that encourages a negative view of the world.

Last week I attended a lecture by an individual from New York who is a decision maker in the world of art. His portrayal of the contemporary art world was bleak and his view of artists condescending. If he understood the artist's intent of the work he was talking about it certainly was not apparent from his presentation. And he used cynical remarks followed by his own laughter to try and hook the audience into laughter as well. (For those of us who are uncomfortable with looking at contemporary art because we do not understand it our discomfort creates some anxiety and so laughter comes easily because it reduces some of the tension.) There were many in the audience who did not laugh. The question I wanted to ask of the speaker at the end of the presentation was "What role do you think cynicism and humor play in the positive reception of contemporary art and ideas?" I did ask him to tell us about some contemporary art he had seen in the past few weeks that he liked. He could not think of one artist's work that he liked.

It is tragic when those in the business cannot find anything to like in the New York art world where over 10,000 artists live and work. When art becomes an acceptable subject for cynical or condescending humor in the mainstream culture it is difficult to reverse the trend.

I have always been astonished when I hear the mention of art on prime-time network television because it is so rare. Two instances that stand out in my memory were on comedy shows. In an episode of Cheers over ten years ago, Diane comes into the bar and she is laughing. Someone asks her what is so funny and she says she has just been working at the Public Television Telethon and has heard the funniest joke. Of course everyone wants to hear it and so she proceeds. "How many Surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?" The camera pans the faces of the central cast at the bar and everyone looks incredulous. Diane continues "...a dog" and she begins to laugh. The camera pulls away for a wide angle view and everyone is shaking their head and looking quizzically but accepting that this is Diane's wacky sense of humor. Seeing no understanding or response she says "Well, ...I guess Surrealist humor is not your cup of fur!" (referencing a work of art by Meret Oppenheim that is on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1936 Oppenheim made a surrealist object when she covered a cup and saucer and spoon with fur.)

What is different about these particular lines in the script is that they appeal to at least two kinds of viewer. There are those who would agree with the rest of the cast that Diane, the character who was written as someone with above average intelligence and seems constantly out of place should be the victim of ridicule and scorn. For those viewers who understand the reference it is a funny joke and also an affirmation that Diane's character does have a place in the world.

Another example was on Murphy Brown where the cast of FYI is at Murphy's preparing for a GE College Bowl type debate with an Ivy League College. To prepare and cram the FYI team is dividing up the books in various subject matters. Each takes a subject such as science, math or history. There is only one subject left: ART. And Corky is given that. She opens a book and says "Nude descending a staircase ????...(huh)...why don't they just call it fish eating a cheeseburger ?????" (laughtrack)

In this case too, we have a line that provides humor for a variety of viewers. The Corky character is not so bright so we might be laughing at her. If we do not know the reference we are laughing with her. And if you know the reference is to Marcel Duchamp's (in)famous painting of 1912, Nude Descending a Staircase, we are laughing because her remark is absurd. And absurd is what Jerry Seinfeld brought to television. He looked at the absurdity and inexplicable in everyday life and made us laugh about it. Although I do not remember a program when he chose to look at art.

Perhaps if there were more positive references to art on prime-time television our mainstream culture would have a better appreciation for its merits. For those of us who believe that the art of our time is a necessary reflection of our lives we can only hope to see less cynical humor and more that is witty, wry or ironic.

© Mark Ormond, 2001

"Art is in the eye of the beholder"...or is it beauty?

An individual asking me a question about art used this expression recently. The startling idea of the expression "art is in the eye of the beholder" is that it seems to give authority to everyone, any beholder, to determine what is art and what is not. How could this be? What happened to education, experience, and connoisseurship?

A connoisseur is someone who has developed an "eye" for knowing the qualitative differences between good examples and bad examples of art and of an individual artist's work. An "eye" is developed over many years and much comparative analysis. Individuals can be born with abilities and powers of discrimination; however, connoisseurs have to learn not only from looking on their own but also from looking with others who have an "eye." At some point individuals develop enough confidence about their 'eye." They begin to make judgements on their own and their peers agree they have an "eye."

Not everyone is in the position to evaluate what is art and what is not art. Would the person who thinks that art is in their eye as the beholder say that any observer in a hospital can judge a surgical procedure or the identification of a chemical reaction can be determined by just any eyewitness in a laboratory? Determining the quality of a work of art takes a trained "eye" and years of experience.

I was curious to find out about this expression. As is often the case with expressions, they change over time or we rearrange the words. Although the expression I heard is in widespread use I could not find an authoritative author of it. A version of this expression can be found in the book The Magnificent Ambersons written by Booth Tarkington (1838-1918) and published in 1918. In Chapter VI he writes, "You mean beauty's in the eye of the beholder, and the angel is all in the eye of the mother. If you were a painter, Fred, you'd paint mothers with angels' eyes holding imps in their laps. Me, I'll stick to the Old Masters and the cherubs."

I recently stood in a gallery at a museum with someone and they looked around and pointed to a few works and said "Well, those are art and this one next to you is not!" At which point I said "So, you think the museum was trying to see if we could find the one work that was NOT art?" If something is hanging in a museum we have to trust that the curator of the museum made an informed choice. We may not like or agree with his or her choice but we can not say, "That is NOT art."

I was discussing this very incident with a friend of mine who is an artist. He said "When people say that what they really mean is that they know what they like and they do not like it and that is why they are saying it is not art." I thought for a moment and replied. "When I see a car I do not like, I say I do not like that car." "I do not say that is NOT a car." He laughed. I continued "I do not see people in clothing stores look at a dress they do not like and say 'That is not a dress' or deny shoes to be shoes." We trust the buyer or merchandise manager is doing their job to only present us with objects that are what they appear to be.

Another friend of mine who is an artist told me after hearing this story that what people are saying when they say it is NOT art is that they do not understand it. I replied that I can look at an engine running and not understand how it runs or think it is ugly or noisy. I can not say it is NOT an engine. She smiled.

Everyone can think they are an art expert but not everyone is qualified to be one. Just as it takes years to learn how to be a lawyer or doctor or mechanic it also takes years to be able to evaluate the quality of a work of art.

©Mark Ormond, 2000