at the SOFA 2003 art expo
You know you’re at an art expo when your eye catches
a shiny object and you think, “Oh, that’s just
another beautiful $50,000 glass sculpture.” But art
expos, like the SOFA 2003 exhibition of sculptural objects
and functional art, which took place at Navy Pier from Oct.
17-19, can be really rewarding albeit physically and mentally
draining -- especially when they feature booths like those
of the Danish galleries: Galerie Tactus, Galleri Norby, Galerie
Metal, Galleri Gronlund, and Gallery DeCraftig.
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| Astrid Krogh, “Blue,” 2002. Woven optical fibers, 118x98x20 Photo: Bent Ryberg Courtesy of Gallery DeCraftig |
The Danish galleries represented work that
ranged from both low- to high-tech, made of paper or fabric,
metal or glass, sculptural, wearable, or merely functional.
The high-tech was found in Astrid Krogh’s “Blue,”
a kaleidoscopic woven work of optical fiber, and was represented
by Gallery DeCraftig along with the more low-tech work of
Charlotte Houman. Her piece, “Magnetism VII,”
consists of a series of cotton canvases with geometric patterns
sliced from them and protruding from the fabric.
The Danes are not afraid to get weird with their art, either.
Particularly interesting were the pieces found in the contemporary
ceramics booth. Steen Ipsen’s stoneware sculptures,
about 25 by 25 centimeters, look like smooth, bulbous fat
globules that mushroom from each other, as though they are
dividing and multiplying. Their weirdness is only accentuated
by the various, purposefully “off” colors —
a lemon that has a tinge of green to it, a red that helps
refer the piece to the body, and a dirty lime green that looks
just, well, dirty.
Also worth noting is Steffen Damm’s three panels of
twelve images, “The Secret Life of Plants.” Here
abstracted plant forms are fossilized in glass. Only the name
of the piece gives away the finite subject matter. However,
these amber-like plants could just as easily be from another
planet or the ocean floor as they could from the ground.
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| Steen Ipsen, “Vessel,” 2003. Stoneware, 27x26cm. Courtesy of Galleri Norby |
Another SOFA highlight was the student work found in Savannah
College of Art and Design’s side exhibition
called Making Our Mark. The work spoke to
the versatility of the school, with strong pieces of fiber
art, jewelry, and furniture design. Ryan Wither’s “Relaxation”
demonstrates what happens when slick-tech meets comfort. His
steel lounge chair with navy colored nylon-covered foam balls
is complete with a built-in wood side table, perfect for setting
down one’s martini in between sips.
Atsuko Ingawa Smith’s “Daddy’s Little Girl,”
a giant bib quilted out of plastic bags contrasted the subtle,
intricately constructed “Reliquary 6: Letter of Inquiry”
by Nicole Podio. Little squiggle-shaped glass vessels adorn
the silver chain mail metal necklace, the vessels being about
one inch long and holding tiny pieces of paper in them.
The Danish and Savannah schools’ showings were the most
remarkable and memorable of the booths. There were other individual
pieces that stood out from the sea of Chihuly glass works
(he also had a rather unattractive painted abstract mural
selling for $120,000) and other sculptural objects with five
to six figure price tags. Flo Perkinson’s odd glass
pieces are different from the rest because of their sense
of humor. Her series of flowering cacti made of green and
pink glass are fun, spherical forms with spikes coming from
their top. She also showed “Danger Cones,” three
traffic cones made out of blown glass and rubber. The three
bright orange cones seem to document the tragic life of a
traffic cone. The first is straight and upright, the second
drooping a little, and the third pathetically bent in half.
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| Linda Behar, “Porter’s Cove,” 2003, Embroidery, 4.25x6. Photo: David Caras. Courtesy of Mobilia Gallery |
Some of the SOFA work got political, like
Bern Emmerich’s “Who Are You?” from the
Australian Despard Gallery. The platter-shaped ceramic work
betrays its formal material by not boasting floral motifs
but instead images that provide a sharp commentary on colonialism.
Featured in the middle of the platter are two busts, one of
a black, aboriginal figure, and the other a white, colonial
figure. A black hand points up to where the two heads meet
and is accompanied by the text, “Who are you?”
Around the border of the piece are narrative images regarding
the violence of colonialism, similar in composition to those
found on Grecian urns.
Similarly, Jon Eric Riis’ “Babies in Arms”
pushes political buttons. About five feet tall, the figures
are based off of American rag dolls of black girls in colonial
clothing. Riis gives them contemporary weapons to hold, in
stark contrast to their innocent, harmless faces. The three
figures, which are made of woven silk covered with natural
coral beads, refer to lost childhood — most immediately
to the lost childhoods of those who either grow up in violence
or become child soldiers themselves.
Another benefit of being able to visit art expos in Chicago
is finding work by current and former members of the SAIC
community. Fiber instructor Linda Dolack showed a series of
household objects constructed adorned with beads and sequins.
Included in her vignette were an embellished Pepto Bismol
bottle, a tea bag, and two bags of M & M’s. Eric
Mirabito, who received his BFA from SAIC last May, exhibited
“Fixture Series #4,” thrown stoneware shaped like
industrial piping but with blue flowers as though the pipe
was a piece of China dinnerware.
SOFA differs from that other annual art expo that takes place
at Navy Pier, the painting and photography dominated ArtChicago,
in that it features oft-neglected fiber art, like that by
Barbara Schulmann and Linda Behar, who exhibited alongside
Linda Dolack under the Mobilia Gallery. Schulmann, like many
other contemporary artists, uses the traditional quilt form
for conceptual instead of functional purposes. Her quilt “Forty-nine
Vignettes on Turning Fifty” features cotton embroidery
on black wool felt. The squares in the quilt, instead of consisting
of bright, colorful fabric patches, have exquisitely embroidered
abstract patterns of leaves and geometric shapes. Linda Behar’s
four-by-six-inch landscapes made of embroidered fabric are
lush, dense ones that are like sentimental memory postcards.
There are similar rewards for those who brave the obnoxious
crowds of Navy Pier and aren’t afraid of having their
feet rolled over by the occasional baby stroller in the crowded
exhibition space. And, unlike ArtChicago, the gallerists seem
more eager to talk to students and others who clearly don’t
have $600,000 to drop on a glass sculpture. But, most importantly,
there are lots of free postcards and gallery brochures to
take home as souvenirs.
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