Grand Opening
30 South Charles Street
website
Open 11-5, Tuesday through Saturday
Exhibit through Jan. 3, 2005

'Current' associations: electric, now, flow. Fringe: not really, these artists come from mainstream artist producers--Maryland Institute, Pratt, etc. Mainstream: not yet.

But if you would like an introduction to youthful, ambitious, idealistic, well-schooled, serious, energetic, talented, artists moving from the academic world into the arts market, this is a good starting place.

Jimbo infers from the artists' biographies that more than a million dollars worth of tuition is represented in this exhibit, as well as a century of study. Then there are the persistence, sweat, coordination, negotiations, hours, diplomacy, and money that starting a new cooperative gallery requires. Does the public have any idea how hard artists must work to become professionals?

The result: a flexible, centrally-located, and neutral space for advantageous display of art and an intriguing group of artists who merit more complete exhibitions of their work.

Where to start? The boutique, named 'bored?' This consisted of a small clothes rack with maybe ten items of tops and bottoms left of the entrance, and an unexpected display of perhaps twenty, postcard-sized, photographs on one of the window piers. Spare, it fit seamlessly into the gallery.

The photographs by Adam Pollard show shirts designed by... Adam Pollard (!)http://www.boredstudio.com/studio/artists/. They represent the largest "body of work" in the exhibit. Witty, cool, silk-screened, fun, wonderful colors, shirts on attractive models. Is Pollard a fashion designer, a photographer, or an artist? It doesn't matter. The images work in all of these ways. In one image the word bored? was printed over the model's abdomen, making the image hot, sexy, ironic, electric.

These photographs were a good introduction to some of the other work in the exhibit which ignored any fine art/utilitarian distinctions.

Ana Zavaljevski showed diaphanous cloth panels hung in groups from the ceiling. They could be read as fabric sculpture: rectangular, vertical planes hand-dyed or painted with abstract shapes, and positioned about foot apart, flowing with the ambient motion of the air. Or perhaps they could be worn as scarves or wraps. Simple, beautiful, planar, sculptural, abstract, translucent, motion. Perhaps they could be worn as scarves or wraps and then re-hung. But they are simply good enough to be signs for themselves.

The other artists in the show were represented by only one work each. Of special interest: Alyssa Dennis (painting, mixed media) and Erin Fostel (charcoal drawing) demonstrated fine technical expertise used in the service of psychology. Works by painter Ryan Jedlicka and sculptor/painter Dale Thomas Ihnken also made me want to see more of their work and how it develops.

Current Gallery and Artists Cooperative has much to be proud of and merits watching in the future. Given the professionalism of this entire group of artists, there should be a listing of the artists, works, materials, and dates of creation available along with labels soon. More than compensating for this lapse, the artists staffing the gallery were gracious and informative.

Note: Judge bored? clothing for yourself by checking out the link above. Clicking on Adam Pollard's head will take you to an on-line catalog. The images of the clothing reflect the shirts shown in the photographs exhibited, but the photographs in the exhibit are much better. In the exhibit more of the model is visible and each image has its own life.