John Otte throws a Christmas tree into the fire at his January 2008 opening. Click above for more photos and thoughts by Jonathan Bouknight.
Summer Falls is a “hit and run” installation organized by John Otte, a local artist/curator/DJ who, by all accounts, is a personality of noted charisma. Otte recruits the aid of Fereydoon Family, Richard Sudden, Karen Tauches, and Mark Wentzel for an exhibit opening Wednesday, August 19, from 7-10PM at Whitespace. Summer Falls will incorporate photography, text, collage, sculpture, and film. Among a long list of decorative buzzwords, the press release includes creative destruction, a concept I’ve heard mentioned on the radio in connection with economist Joseph Schumpeter. Applied to art, creative destruction strengthens the case for new ideas. Ephemeral projects like Otte’s Summer Falls and this May’s Showtime are beginning to look like sensible (and exciting) alternatives to exhibits designed chiefly to sell artwork to a dwindling base of collectors. Is this the future?
