Two Themed Exhibits Crave and The Real Me

It’s good to have absorbing exhibits to attend in the drearier part of winter. The UT Downtown Gallery’s Crave and the Unitarian Universalist Gallery’s The Real Me are not only stimulating, but fun, as well.

Crave is a themed exhibit featuring the work of five artists, curated by artist and professor Matthew Garrison from Albright College in Reading, Penn. Artists Joel Carreiro, Thomas Weaver, Brian Wood, Amanda Sparks and Betsy Chaffin produce a rich variety of predominantly two-dimensional work, bound together only in their unique interpretations of the show’s theme.

Wood’s bold ink drawings, which occasionally integrate black and white photographic imagery, interpret craving as unresolved desire. His largest entry (all his work is untitled) strongly resembles an abstract monoprint. The dynamic ink slashes that run down the surface of the translucent mylar have the texture and crisp lineage associated with printmaking. Chaffin’s distressed impasto paintings make use of some of the same vaguely Asian calligraphic shapes and compositional elements that Wood employs, though in a drastically different medium. She smears thick layers of paint in muted colorations over her surfaces, developing a texture that appears eroded by the passage of time. The tar-infused slash marks gouged into the surface have an emotionally charged resonance that fluctuates depending on how thick they are clustered or dispersed.

Joel Carreiro craves imagery from Renaissance and Baroque paintings. He appropriates — through a heat transfer on wood process — segments of the styles to form tiled abstract compositions. There is a bit of a “Where’s Waldo” factor in spotting the original sources in all his details. Thomas Weaver also works in a kind of grid format, layering his paintings and drawings, rendered on various papers, to form wall installations. He uses the grouped imagery to explore the function of craving in accumulated imagery, many of which appear to be from film stills.

The centerpiece of this show is a massive autobiographical pop-up book by Amanda Sparks called Half a World Away. Growing up in a lower-class Southern neighborhood, Sparks craved the American Dream of the perfect house, lifestyle and diversions. While assembling this book (which the gallery’s attendant flips through for visitors’ viewing), Sparks was assisted by Google image searches in her quest to find and print the visions she idealized.  The final product is an amazing engineering feat and the one piece that truly materializes the exhibit’s theme.

“I am he and you are he and as you are me and we are all together” – John Lennon.

Carl Gombert’s The Real Me, at the Unitarian Universalist Gallery, is based on Gombert’s conviction that people are more alike than they would want to believe.

Several years ago, the Maryville College art professor shaved his prodigious beard for virtually the only time in his adult life. The resultant photo documentation served as the basis for this extensive series of pastel and acrylic self-portraits of his face transformed into a multitude of characters of differing racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as occupational stereotypes.  The pose, the face, and the bright turquoise background are the same in each portrait, though eye color and structure may change. Facial hair is added or taken away and visible clothing is wildly variable. The series of more than 20 portraits transforms Gombert into individuals ranging from a tie-dye wearing hippie into an East Indian doctor. Between each portrait is a card posing a question. The questions ask such things as who is most trustworthy, who beats their kids and who gets what they deserve. The questions serve as a starting point for people to question how they initially react to other individuals. The viewers must supply their own answers.

Tiring of his own image, Gombert has a new series of portraits using his wife as the basis for “The Real She.” Jewelry and headwear replace facial hair as dynamic clues to each character, which range from an Arab woman in a burka to a nun wearing the headgear associated with Mother Teresa.

Gombert, who also has his larger work hanging in both the Knoxville Convention Center’s collection and just recently the KMA, is no doubt one of the best portrait artists in the state of Tennessee, if not the entire Southeast. His wit and inventiveness add to his seemingly effortless skill in breathing life into his subjects.

Crave
UT Downtown Gallery, 106 South Gay St.: Wednesday through Friday, 11a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be a First Friday closing reception Feb. 1 from 5 to 9 p.m.

The Real Me
The Unitarian Universalist Gallery, 2931 Kingston Pike: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 9 a.m. to noon.