Now for the all-girl art show, “Birds of Prey” at Space 1026, wherein art about identity, sexuality and relationships comes in shades of flesh and pink.
The five-person exhibit includes
–an embroidery installation by Lia Brennan; (top image is detail)
–ceramic flower-hybrids by Sarah Christoph;
–jewelry by Adriane Dalton;
–seventeen photo-collages on glass by Sienna Freeman; and
–a sculptural soap installation by Erinn Hart.
Stella and I ran into Space 1026er Thom Lessner on Saturday when we were in the gallery. He told us the opening, which we missed, sadly, was great, although steamy with heat.
Lots of folks turned out, and DJ Julia Factorial provided the ambiance.
The show’s pleasant although conventional. What made it a Space show was the show’s title in a pink heart painted on the wall along with red arrows and black and gold birds stencilled here and there. (image right above of Stella, in pink, in front of the show’s logo)
That uncredited decor (I’m guessing it was a group effort, with Brennan doing the arrows — her embroidery installation included girl archers shooting bows and arrows — and someone else doing the birds) deserves an A. Christoph’s vessels, pictured above with arrows behind it on the wall reminded me of early Rain Harris — beautiful, carnivorous female plants.
Adriane Dalton’s jewelry, pictured right (so sad about that blurry photo, sorry), depicted birds on tree branches and women with bird beaks on tree branches in miniature paintings that reminded me of Victoriana.
If they had gone a little farther — more threatening imagery perhaps — they would have been more reverberant. As it is they’re a little too literal.
Hart’s “The weight of decorations,” (left) with cast soap in the form of dead animals on the floor encircling the baby dress, reminded me of Kiki Smith and a host of work by woman artists who paint, sculpt and have affinity with dead animals.
Sienna Freeman’s seventeen photo-collages had some zip and surreal charm.
Here (below) for example is a nice update of Manet’s Olympia.
What I loved best and I’m sorry you can’t quite see it here is that Olympia’s knees are red, like she’s been crawling around — animal-like — on all fours. Why she’s been doing this is left for you to decide.
Be sure to catch this show soon because the closing day is July 22, 2004.
