I was very pleased to have attended the recent Bi-Lingual exhibition at Spaces. Whenever I come to the gallery I have found many things not only interesting to view but quite thought provoking as well. The current display of works is no exception.
I am always in awe of the great amount of detail and thought that goes into an artist’s work. The average person’s casual look at art that has taken an incredible amount of manhours to put together hardly seems fair. Not truly being an artist myself I cannot appreciate all the effort these talented individuals have invested in what they bring to us. There certainly are some works, however that rise above others and do make a greater number of people take notice.
I was particularly impressed with the works created and put together by Juan-Si Gonzalez and Paloma Dallas. Utilizing a variety of media we find that each individual’s story becomes part of the patchwork that is America. I was surrounded by tales of various people whose backgrounds, though they may be different from mine, reflect a commonality of purpose in the world. Whether looking at visual material or listening to personal stories I was absorbed by the vast array of what was presented. Of the various exhibits shown by all the artists involved I feel it was the one that was the most positive and complete in its approach.
The sheer number of people’s stories placed upon paper chains was very moving to me. Beyond impressive, it opened my thoughts up to how we are all connected and how each of us can find ways to see that we are all part of the same human family. As a part time religous school teacher for a 7th grade class at Congregation Bethaynu in Pepper Pike, I began to formulate the way I could apply the idea of using the paper chains as a long term project. I plan to have the class express themselves on various themes and over the course of the year see how they fit into a bigger picture of both our country and our world.
As the Bi-Lingual exhibition often points out through the eyes of various artists, our country is not just a melting pot of various nationalities and colors, but how others see us often affects the way we see ourselves. We have come to expect people to perform in certain ways based on their ethnicity or race, pigeonholing everyone we see. Is that any different when you examine different religions or sexual orientation? Perhaps the theme can be expanded upon to be Multi-Lingual, as we find ourselves playing a variety of roles most often dependent upon who is listening.
The most unfortunate things is that we often have no time to listen and no time to learn. Things just keep going faster and we are forced to move along regardless of our true desires. I have always maintained that people must learn to communicate better so as to get their messages understood. One may remember the Bible tale of the Tower of Babel or Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke” when he said “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” Both stories did not end well. All the more reason to continue working at it.
~ Jeffrey Pearl, SPACES visitor
October 10, 2008
This blog serves as a forum to discuss the SPACES exhibition Bi-Lingual. Our guest moderator is Ayanah Moor, Associate Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Bi-Lingual is an exhibition of African American and Latino artists who live and create in two worlds—that of their own cultural community and that of the contemporary art scene. While crossing boundaries of politics, race, gender, and stereotype, each artist expresses a desire to remain relevant in both domains.
Curated by artist Angelica Pozo, Bi-Lingual is on view September 9-October 17, 2008, at SPACES, 2220 Superior Viaduct, Cleveland, Ohio.
September 4, 2008
