by donald dusinberre imartsyfartsy@gmail.com
It’s exciting for me to learn of a new art gallery in town, especially one that doesn’t specialize in beach scenes and waterfowl.
Working in conjunction with the Beaver Contemporary Art Center, the Pedestrian Projects Gallery is a new space for local artists to display their work. On display through the end of September, Portent, I Said Portent features artwork by Mark Creegan, James Greene, Byron King, Kurt Polkey and Brittni Wood.
My first question about the show was, of course, “What the heck does portent mean?” The venerable Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (m-w.com) defines Portent as “something that foreshadows a coming event,” or “prophetic indication or significance.” Now I get it.
According to Pedestrian Projects’ website, thepedestrian.org: “The title of the exhibit suggests a positive sign of things to come for the visual arts in Jacksonville. The unique work on display foreshadows a new, contemporary direction for the local cultural scene, indicating we are on the cusp of something exciting and progressive.”
“The artists extend the metaphor further by creating work that stands as a reaction to and against the ominous ‘portents’ we read everyday in the news. All of the artists are young, many with young families, and their work conceptually and materially reflects their ever-present anxiety about the future.”
I had been looking forward to seeing the work of a few new artists, and Portent gave me everything I asked for. More importantly, I didn’t have to wade through a bunch of what I didn’t ask for. Galleries often overload exhibitions with too many artists. I’d much rather see more works from a few artists, and Pedestrian Projects did it masterfully for this show.
The first artist I’d like to mention is Byron King. Whenever I hear of an idea rich with enthusiasm, King is usually involved. He created jaxcal.org (Jacksonville Contemporary Arts League), a blog site devoted to proliferating artistic growth and ideas in Jacksonville, and he has also coordinated some group shows around town.
In terms of his own artwork, Byron King is currently obsessed with Trophy Soldiers, drawings of fallen U.S. soldiers with deer heads replacing their own. The concept is intriguing and flexible, with the symbolism of the head and rack of a buck providing a wide range of interpretations. It’s fascinating that the power of symbolism allows artwork that is quite straightforward in its style and medium to be splintered when pushing past its appearance and considering its meaning.
Brittni Wood offers just a few pieces of work, if you count her series of 15 small mixed-media paintings as one idea. Nevertheless, her treatment of canvas is fresh, as she draws, paints, and encrusts her work with confidence. I look forward to examining her work more thoroughly in the near future.
The most conflicting art in the bunch is that of Kurt Polkey. Truthfully, I was immediately turned off by what I perceived as a gross lack of traditional and conceptual skill. The more examples I saw, the less impressed I was. But I now consider the possibility that Polkey’s work was more deliberate in its amateurish look.
In one sense, Polkey’s work had a more long-lasting effect than any of the other artists’ work, because I still can’t figure out if he’s brilliant in a Daniel Johnston kind of way, or if he just sucks and doesn’t realize it yet, in a Tourist Town Bum kind of way. You know, like the creepy guy who draws pictures and peddles them in the town square in St. Augustine. Polkey has another show coming up at the Jane Gray Gallery, and I can’t wait to see it. I’d love for my first impression to be wrong.
Visit Pedestrian Projects at 1535 San Marco Boulevard in Jacksonville to catch Portent, I Said Portent! Check their website for upcoming shows at thepedestrian.org.
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