Curator’s Statement: Bright & White

"White ... is not a mere absence of colour; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black.... God paints in many colours; but He never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so gaudily, as when He paints in white."
--Gilbert Keith Chesterton [British author, 1874–1936] “A Piece of Chalk,” Tremendous Trifles (1909)

The color of the object illuminated partakes of the color of that which illuminates it.
-Leonardo da Vinci

Bright and White is a multifarious title. Bright implies intelligence, open mindedness, high energy, or intense pigment that is highly saturated. The color white could be a reference to skin tone, the absence of color, a tint, or the presence of all colors. White can be interpreted as scrubbed clean of evidence, pristine and untouched, “pure as the driven snow”, or a derogatory slang term for a form of trash that has cultural and social implications. In the context of the exhibition Bright and White is a reference to material use and the manner in which the medium can indeed be the message.

The show initially began as an opportunity to juxtapose color and non-color imagery. The curatorial process was predicated upon tapping into artists work in the medium of porcelain, and through that material creating sculptures in a narrative context. The color work selected also captures the storytelling motif, while pushing the viewer into a highly saturated nether reality. In both cases, the art forces the observer to challenge their own perceptions of the ideas and environments presented within the work, and the impact it has on the viewer.

Jeremy Chandler utilizes a strong saturated palette of color resplendent of the Florida landscape he grew up. The characters presented in his images are friends and acquaintances. Rather than condescending their style and behavior, he honors their unique personalities and lifestyle. Roger Palmer, a seasoned veteran of narrative art, uses colorful drawings created with pure hand-mixed pigments in order to get more intense color and a deeper saturation, creating less sensitivity to bleaching in light. The images make reference to Japanese Haiga paintings (text and image in the same compositional space) and the inclusion of poetic statements that create a humorous interplay with the metaphorically inspired drawings.

John Byrd, a master of porcelain and mixed media, explores his Southern cultural roots by integrating taxidermy into high brow representational figurative sculpture. Upon close inspection, one can see different animal appendages compiled together to fabricate a hybridized mammal of unknown origin.

Ambiguous imagery reflective of the human body coupled with a fetish-finish of material is the hallmark of artist Jason Briggs. Briggs’s work is a marvel of porcelain and human hair. He finely works the porcelain into an ivory- like surface, smooth and refined; one is not sure what they are looking at. Is it a sexual reference, a fish, or some combination thereof? Briggs enjoys challenging the viewer, forcing the individual to confront their own perceptions of sexuality and tactility.

Russell Biles is a master of confrontational sculpture, portraying cultural stereotypes in a finely honed 3-dimensional milieu. Biles describes himself as a son of the south. His narrative sculpture is satirical in nature; to support this perspective he relies on a high level of craftsmanship. Biles has always appreciated and respected craft and the maker’s ability to transcend cultural and social class distinctions in order for the work to appeal to a broader audience. His sculpture provides humor and social criticism about subjects that are often challenging and difficult to discuss, providing an opportunity for public discourse.

Linda Cordell’s white porcelain animals appear on first glance to be innocent little creatures but on closer inspection convey images of chaos and destruction. Cordell’s interpretations play off 18th and 19th century European decorative art traditions. However, her subjects speak to contemporary environmental and social concerns.

Bethany Krull’s work is inspired by the exploration of the intricacies and complexities that exist within the relationship between our species and the rest of the natural world. Her insects and crustaceans become precious sculptural objects when fabricated in porcelain clay. The carefully formed sculptures appear pristine and untouchable, but life-like at the same time.

Kate MacDowell chooses porcelain for its luminous and ghostly qualities as well as its strength and ability to show fine texture. It highlights both the impermanence and fragility of natural forms in a dying ecosystem, while paradoxically, being a material that can last for thousands of years and is historically associated with high status and value. MacDowell sees each piece as a captured and preserved specimen, a painstaking record of endangered natural forms and a commentary on our own vulnerability.

The artists presented in Bright and White are on the vanguard of mining the depth of their chosen media within the context of contemporary art. Youthful bravado coupled with the studied refinement of their craft presents a dynamic case for a rich and varied survey of present-day narrative art.