Craig Drennen's new performances will include an absurd puppet-like head modeled after a self-portrait. Image courtesy the artist.

Click the player above to listen, or click here to download the MP3.

Special thanks to AM 1690, The Voice of the Arts, our partners in producing ARTSpeak with BURNAWAY. The radio program broadcasts over the airwaves every Tuesday between 8-8:30AM and between 6-6:30PM.

Episode 36: Alana Wolf speaks with Craig Drennen, an artist and professor at Georgia State University whose work explores the great flops of theatrical history, from Shakespeare to Supergirl, as well as the relationship between acting and painting, objects and flat images, success and utter failure. (For more info on Drennen’s work, click here for Jiha Moon’s interview with the artist or read our review of his show at Gallery Stokes in 2009.)

Hanging wall clocks set the tone for Drennen's recent exhibitions based on Timon of Athens, the only play by Shakespeare that was never produced during his lifetime. Image courtesy the artist.

Photo by Sandy Hooper.

Art partnerships are tough. Pairing two passionate and perhaps temperamental personalities can be a recipe for disaster, so it takes a special match to work harmoniously, let alone get hitched. Since moving to Atlanta four years ago, husband and wife Rich Gere and Dayna Thacker have shown themselves to be individually talented and, together, a force to be reckoned with.

Printmaker Gere is a professor at Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta (SCAD), while Thacker, a painter and collage artist, has left her mark on Castleberry Hill as the curator of the much-missed Gallery Stokes. (Click here for our feature on Gallery Stokes and here for excerpts from a review of Thacker’s solo at Barbara Archer Gallery.) Both Gere and Thacker have conducted fellowsships at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences and have displayed their work in multiple venues across the Southeast, most recently at the Little Things Mean A Lot exhibition at the Swan Coach House Gallery. We sat down with the couple to quiz them on how they reconcile their love for art and each other.

BURNAWAY: You have a few projects coming up, Rich. Why don’t you tell us about them?

Rich Gere: I have a solo show coming up in June at the University of West Georgia. We’re organizing an Atlanta Print Biennial through the Atlanta Printmakers Studio that will be in the fall. We’re trying to attract a lot of national attention for works on paper through a juried exhibition.

How long have you been teaching at SCAD?

RG: Eight years — no nine years.

Dayna Thacker: We were in Savannah for five years and then four in Atlanta.

RG: I was the director of the printmaking minor program, and, when they opened the Atlanta campus, some of us that were directing the minors were tapped to come up here and build the majors. That was a once-in-a-career opportunity.

Do you think that teaching and being around students have had an impact on your work?

RG: Oh, I learn much more from them than they learn from me. They inspire me. I wouldn’t say they impact specifically what goes on in my studio, but their energy is very contagious. That’s the good thing about teaching. I’m having my 21st 29th birthday this year. Or maybe my 29th 21st?

DT: That’s more accurate.

Photo by Sandy Hooper.

Dayna, do you like saying you’re married to Richard Gere?

DT: It’s a mixed blessing.

RG: Thanks, dear.

DT: No, it’s wonderful to be married to you!

But we’ll go through a grocery line, and they’ll look at his credit card and say, “Is your name really Richard Gere?”

No, I’ve stolen Richard Gere’s credit card, and now I’m handing it to you.

Rich, does your name afford you any perks?

RG: I don’t get any perks, but my sister and mother do. When my mother travels, someone will ask, “Oh, Mrs. Gere, are you Richard Gere’s mother?”

She’ll say, “Yes, I am, and he’s picking me up from the airport!”

And all a sudden she’s upgraded to first class, but then I’m picking her up in my old Toyota.

We’ve noticed that you two seem to take turns having big exhibitions. Is that on purpose?

DT: It’s not purposeful, but it’s probably been lucky. When I was working on that show last winter and spring, Rich completely covered for me on everything. He was very supportive. He cooked and cleaned and really took care of everything.

We try to help each other. We did have a show together a few years ago.

RG: The title of the show was In Mad Love and War, and that’s all I have to say about it.

DT: It was, um ….

RG: That’s the title of a Joy Harjo poem. It was a good show, down at the JEA Art Gallery down in Savannah. We played off each other’s work, which we don’t usually do. She does steal a lot of my ideas.

DT: He’s always accusing me! We do have very different ways of working and different approaches. And we don’t necessarily collaborate usually. We haven’t tried it very often.

RG: Some [married couples] collaborate, and very well.

DT: We talk about things very well together. We’ve talked about our work together for years and years. So it’s more of a sounding board process and bouncing ideas off each other. Sometimes inspiration of images goes back and forth.

Photo by Sandy Hooper.

Do you think it’s helpful to be married to another artist in terms of your temperaments and for having an understanding relationship?

DT: I would say yes, but I’ve not tried the other way.

RG: I’ve tried it the other way, and I’d take this way all day! If you’re creative, it’s better if they’re creative, even if the other person isn’t in the arts. There are no rules, but it works for us. Even though we don’t really collaborate a lot, we sure talk a lot about art.

DT: And we understand each other when one of us says, “I’m not coming home tonight,” or, “I’m not coming home until 3:00 in the morning, because I’m in my studio and have to get this done.”

RG: So that’s when I run to check to see if she’s really working.

DT: Ha ha! There are a few drawbacks being married to an artist. You have particular aesthetic opinions, so things like decorating the house [are difficult].

RG: So we choose not to decorate.

How did you guys meet? Was it arts related?

RG: Do you want to hear the real story?

DT: Oh my god, if you tell them this story …. [rolls eyes]

RG: When I lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, a friend of mine calls me up and says, “You’re not going to believe this, but David Hasselhoff’s band is playing at the Tennessee State Fair.”

So we’re on the way and decide to take a short cut. We go through the John Deere exhibit, and Dayna was Miss John Deere. She had a green-and-yellow sash. She was gorgeous. It was love at first sight. [dramatic pause]

Actually, I made that up. The first time we were in Lacoste, France [where SCAD has a study-abroad campus], I told that story to some students. Dayna had not arrived yet, and I just made that up on the spot. The kids thought that it was just the most romantic story.

Oddly enough, the part about the David Hasselhoff concert was true. We have several different stories about how we met just in case.

DT: One is just a standard Las Vegas meet: Run away and get married the next week.

RG: In reality, we met in school. I was a teaching assistant for a drawing class. Dayna was in that class, and I had a crush on her from day one.

DT: An art crush!

RG: Ever since then — bang! I’ve had it bad.

Photo by Sandy Hooper.

You are both Hambidge Fellows. What did you two think of the experience at the Hambidge Center, and how has it had an impact on your work?

DT: I love Hambidge. It’s the only residency I have done so far, so maybe I’m a little partial. But I was with a great group of people when I was up there. We still email back and forth.

RG: It’s a really special place. I only had a couple weeks up there, but it changed my work 180 degrees.

DT: And you really produced a lot of work.

RG: Yeah, it was an odd time. But it was fantastic and exactly what I needed. They have a press. Someone donated some printmaking equipment, so I’m working with them to help them set that up. Stephanie Smith and Terri Dilling of Atlanta Printmakers Studio were also fellows up there, and I have talked to them about it.

Rich, what’s different about your new series?

RG: I amplified parts of my work that were not the foreground. That came from talking and discussing [with Dayna] and a desire for getting away from photo processes for a little while.

I wanted to simplfy things, and I wanted to draw the focus in a little tighter. I set up a metric of how I would work on those layers, and it would be all direct drawing and painting.

This is all happened in my prints before, but it’s been in the background. It’s nice when you do a body of work, and you have time to have a conversation with it. [The art] starts telling you about what’s going on, instead of you thinking you’re always in complete control.

DT: I like that about this body of work. So much of Rich’s work has been very planned because he’s been working in printmaking. This is much more spontaneous.

Dayna, where do you get the materials for your collages? Do you look for specific photos?

DT: As far as the photos go, I usually go for black and white, because that’s what I have [in my collection]. Color photos don’t usually show up in the flea markets. I also like the neutral aesthetic of black and white. Friends give them to me now as well.

The paper is mostly from old books, and some new books. I use photographic images out of books, too, and those tend to be color. There’s a great bookstore on Clairmont Road that deals in rare and expensive books. They have a basement filled with leftovers from customers who bring them a whole box of books, but with only one rare.

It seems like you both have very time-consuming, detail-oriented techniques.

DT: I think you’re right. We both have a meticulous craft. That’s one of the nicer things that we completely agree on.

RG: We pay attention to craftsmanship. That could easily mean that we are two type-A personalities, but we’ve always considered it to be an important element.

Dayna, you were doing a great job of curating at Gallery Stokes and making it a premier venue for emerging artists. Do you have anything coming up on the curatorial front?

DT: I don’t right now. I have a studio at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, and we’ve been talking about a few ideas. Marc Brotherton brought up this idea inspired by another city for doing apartment shows. The idea is that there would be a group of people, and each person would take a different month. It would be a rotating and moving show.

I’m also now on the board of Twin Kittens. In my mind, they’ve taken the Gallery Stokes torch and taken it way further.

What are your sprit animals? One as a couple and one individually?

RG: A hound dog. Loyal, has a tail.

DT: I often tell Rich he’d be the person most likely to make good use of a tail. I haven’t given a whole lot of thought to my spirit animal.

RG: You’d be a tabby cat.

DT: I don’t know that I’d be domesticated.

RG: You’d be a feral cat. You could be a bobcat. A snow leopard.

DT: I’ll have to think about it.

RG: Our couple animal is a Pegasus and a unicorn put together.

DT: I like the flying part. I think we’d be an otter.

RG: The otter is one of the only animals that continuously plays throughout its entire adult life.

Atlanta Art Crush is an interview series brought to you by Susannah Darrow, Laura Hennighausen, and photographer Sandy Hooper. Look for profiles of our latest heartthrobs on the last Friday of each month.

Installation view of 'Kung Fu' by Todd Schroeder. Photo courtesy of Gallery Stokes.

Gallery Stokes has become a labor of love for Dayna Thacker, who started curating shows in the space in June 2007. She readily admits she had little knowledge of curatorial practices when she began the gallery, but with advice from friends and lots of hard work, she turned Gallery Stokes into a place that continually featured inventive exhibits. The current show, Kung Fu by Todd Schroeder, sadly is the last for the exhibition space.

Gallery Stokes is located in the Castleberry Hill neighborhood in a building that once was a cap and gown factory. Owner Tracy Bergquist offered the space to Thacker to exhibit her own art. Thacker had recently moved to Atlanta from Savannah with her husband, a printmaking professor at SCAD, and was having difficulty breaking into the local art scene. The two reached an agreement that Bergquist would provide the space and Thacker the labor. The name is slightly misleading, since Gallery Stokes is not a traditional gallery that represents artists. Thacker prefers the term “exhibition space” because it has a “freedom from economic reality.” She rarely made money, but that was never the point.

Thacker’s goal was to introduce new artists to the Atlanta art scene. She showed a variety of work and promoted artists that otherwise might not have been given an opportunity to exhibit. Thacker says she is proud of all twenty-eight shows that she mounted at Gallery Stokes, adding that with the exposure of the Castleberry Hill Art Strolls, many people who normally wouldn’t enter an art gallery stop by. The opportunity to expose those unfamiliar with the local art scene has become one of Thacker’s favorite things about Gallery Stokes.

Three of Thacker’s favorite shows from over the years are: Stuart Keeler’s Social Exchange in June 2008, Steve Jarvis’ Potenital Inevidentability Systems #1 (Provisioning) in January 2008, and Heidi Aishman’s You Can’t Win That! in March 2009. Each received a good response from the community and challenged people’s expectations of what art could be. For example, Keeler’s exhibit became like a boutique where people took their favorite pieces of clothing and exchanged them for someone else’s. By involving the community and pushing the envelope of what is acceptable, these types of shows made Gallery Stokes stand out in the Atlanta art scene.

Todd Schroeder, being non being 11. Photo courtesy of Gallery Stokes.

Gallery Stokes’ final show, which features the work of SCAD professor Todd Schroeder, does not disappoint. Schroeder was mystified by the news of David Carradine’s death in June 2009, specifically its seemingly mysterious circumstances. In time, information was revealed about Carradine’s sexual habits, and his death is now widely accepted as accidental asphyxiation.

Schroeder focused his work on Carradine’s best-known role as Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu, a 1970s television series. The idea behind the work is intriguing, but Schroeder’s talents lie in his process and mastery of technique to produce a variety of textures among different materials. The highlights of the show are being non being 3-13, made from pieces of aluminum. Schroeder started with an image of Carradine he created, poking holes in the metal to recreate the image. Each piece builds upon the last, until the image becomes unrecognizable. This process is like a ritual, similar to kung fu, which Carradine also practiced; some would say Carradine’s sexual behavior was also like a ritual. The formal qualities alone, however, make the work worth a final trip to the gallery.

Thacker was conflicted about closing Gallery Stokes. She wanted more time to focus on her own art, which she describes as collage, assemblage, and installation work that deals with systems of information that define our world. Although making money was never the goal, the labor of creating new shows once a month without pay became taxing.

What’s next for Thacker? She has a solo show of her own work opening at Barbara Archer in May. She also admits she has been bitten by the curating bug and is working on a project with the new local non-profit, Public Acts of Art. No decision has been made about what the Gallery Stokes space will become, although Thacker suggests it will probably no longer be an art gallery. When asked if she succeeded in achieving her goal of giving unrepresented Atlanta artists a “thorough introduction” to the local scene, Thacker confidentially answered, “I have.”

Todd Schroeder’s Kung Fu will be on view during the Castleberry Hill Art Stroll on February 12. The show, and the gallery, will close on February 19.

Susannah Starr's Not So Domestic opens this Thursday at Marcia Wood Gallery.

Note: We are now publishing our weekly To Do Lists every Thursday. Now you have an extra day to plan ahead!

See below for visual arts events for the week of Thursday, January 7, through Wednesday, January 13. Please feel free to contact us about any corrections, updates, and new events to include in our lists!

THURSDAY, JANUARY 7

Guest lecture: Courtney J. Martin
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center / 6:30-7:30PM

Daniel Kariko Storm Season
Snapdragon Photography / 6-9PM, talk at 7:30PM

Susannah Starr Not So Domestic
Marcia Wood Gallery / 7-9PM

Julia Venske and Gregor Spänle Inside
Marcia Wood Gallery / 7-9PM

Todd Shroeder Kung Fu
Gallery Stokes / 7-9PM

Daniel Kariko's Storm Season opens Friday at Snapdragon Photography.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 8

Micah Stansell Presynaptic Potential (one week only)
Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia / 6:30-8:30PM

Castleberry Hill 2nd Friday Art Stroll
Castleberry Arts District / 7-10PM

New Decade Group Show
Krause Gallery / 6-10PM

Chung Chak's The Boxes Project opens Saturday at Eyedrum.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 9

Transitions: Contemporary South African Works on Paper
High Museum of Art / 10AM-5PM

Harbingers: Fresh Doom for 2010 (group show)
Beep Beep Gallery / 8PM

Chung Chak The Boxes Project
Eyedrum Art and Music Gallery / talk at 5PM, reception 6-9PM

Fahamu Pecou Whirl Trade (closing reception)
Get This! Gallery / 7-10PM

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13

Artist talk: Micah Stansell Presynaptic Potential
Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia / 6:30-8:30PM

WEDNESDAY: Beth Lilly discusses Gifted, her ACP 11 Public Art Project that involves giving fine art prints to complete strangers on the street. Photo courtesy MOCA GA.

Don’t worry. If you’re not interested in seeing more photography, there’s still plenty of artwork in other media on view this weekend. (Take for instance the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit.) But if you are one of those camera-obsessed maniacs, prepare yourself for a total system shock.

FRIDAY: Sally Heller's solo, In the Thicket of It. Photo courtesy Whitespace Gallery.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16

Corey Daniels & Susan Harbage Page artist talk
Hagedorn Foundation Gallery / 7-8:30PM

Traci Browning & Julie Maritek Greenshot
The Stacks / 7-9PM

FRIDAY & SATURDAY: Jerry Siegel reception and lecture. Photo courtesy Barbara Archer Gallery.

Steve McCurry & Parish Kohanim lecture
Besharat Gallery / 7-9PM

Sally Heller In the Thicket of It
Whitespace Gallery / 7-10PM

Jerry Siegel artist reception
Barbara Archer Gallery / 7-10PM

Sarah Hinckley Color Logic
Emily Amy Gallery / 7-10PM

Susan Rosmarin Making Strides
Seen Gallery / 7-10PM

SATURDAY: Group photography opening at MINT Gallery. Flyer courtesy Mike Germon.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17

FREE! Darkroom Workshop
Photography Center of Atlanta / 1-5PM

Photo Book Fair
Piedmont Park Community Center / 9AM-1PM

Jerry Siegel artist talk
Barbara Archer Gallery / 11AM-12PM

Westside Arts District Art Walk
Various events, including:

Prospect.1 curator Dan Cameron lecture
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center / 11AM-12PM

Chi Peng, Five Elements Mountain. Photo courtesy Kiang Gallery.

Sarah Hinckley Color Logic artist talk
Emily Amy Gallery / 12PM-1PM

Chi Peng Journey to the West artist talk
Kiang Gallery / 2PM-3PM

Harrison Haynes LRLL RLRR
Saltworks Gallery / 3PM-5PM

Hollis Hildebrand-Mills Collage: Projected, Moving & Still
Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery / 6-8PM

Group show Society of Photographic Education Crossroads Conference
Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia / 6-9PM

Group show SCAD-Atlanta Photo Exhibition
Atlantic Station / 6-10PM / one night only

Group show & found photos Communion
Composition Gallery / 7-10PM

Group Photography Show
MINT Gallery / 8PM

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18

Mary Virginia Swanson Marketing Your Photographs workshop
SCAD-Atlanta / 10:30-12:30AM

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21

Beth Lilly Gifted: A Public Art Project lecture
Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia / 6:30-8:30PM

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22

Jorge Colombo lecture
Emory University Visual Arts Building / 1:30 PM
(In conjunction with Spruill Gallery)

On the Flip Side artist reception
Spruill Gallery / 6-9PM

Monica Cook Seeded and Soiled
Marcia Wood Gallery / 7-9PM

Lucha Rodríguez Pink Seductions
Gallery Stokes / 7-9PM

FRIDAY: Animation Attack! at Eyedrum.

Art events continue to be sparse this summer (as usual). A few more casual Castleberry Hill openings, scattered group shows, and this year’s Animation Attack! should keep you busy all weekend.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 28

Animation Attack (day 3)
Eyedrum / 11PM

The Drawing Show: Isabelle Melchior, Kimo Minton, Louis Schneiderman, Carolyn Schlam
TEW Galleries / 6-9PM

Emerging Artists Series: Gyun Hur
Gallery Stokes / 7-9PM (performance at 8PM)

Atlanta Underground Film Festival
Various locations and times

Matthew Barney: De Lama Lamina
Whitespace Gallery / 9PM and 10PM showings

SATURDAY: Eminent Domain photo show at Composition Gallery.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 29

Eminent Domain: The Piñon Canyon Project, Photographs by Kaylinn Gilstrap
Composition Gallery / 7-10PM

MONDAY, AUGUST 31

Ever Present and in Motion
ACA Gallery / 10AM-5PM (closing reception October 1)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

First Thursdays Buckhead Art Walk
Various locations / 5-8PM

I just want to make it known that I could absolutely beat this guy in a corndog eating contest. I would eat him under the table. No one comes between me and a freshly fried corndog.

As one of the longest seeming weeks in my personal history comes to a close, the weekend brings promise of tube meat wrapped in deep fried dough, summer homes, and guerrilla art. So, everyone, make your gallery stops Friday, grab a corndog and music on Saturday, and finish it off by painting some signs with the boys of WonderRoot over at Eyedrum on Sunday. Sounds like a summer weekend well spent to me.

If this card doesn't make you want to head to the lake, you need to get your priorities in check.

FRIDAY

Jennie C. Jones, Charles Huntley Nelson, Alexi Brown-Schmidt, and Rose Marcus

The Contemporary / 7 – 9 pm

“Minus” Group show

Studioplex / 7 – 9 pm

“Offset”: Works by Eric Mercer and Katie Waugh
Gallery Stokes / 7 – 10 pm

“Summer Guest House” Group show
Marcia Wood Gallery / 7 – 10 pm

Rachel Goldstein MFA Thesis Show
Art House Open Space / 7 – 10 pm

Beltline clean-up from February.

SATURDAY

Corndogorama
East Atlanta Village / 12 – 11 pm (Continues through Sunday.)

SUNDAY

Arts Sign the Beltline
WonderRoot at Eyedrum / 1 pm

THURSDAY

The Affordable Art Show
Alan Avery Art Company / 6 – 9 pm

FRIDAY, MAY 22: Ayano Hisa and Shannon L. Clark open at Naomi Silva Gallery (TULA). Above: Ayano Hisa, Big Sister.

More reasons to rave and scream: I don’t have enough time to see all these art shows this weekend! Ever feel that way? (But please make time to drop by the Gather Atlanta fundraising concert at WonderRoot Saturday!)

ALSO FRIDAY: Scott Silvey at Whitespace. Above: Silvey's Violet.

FRIDAY, MAY 22

Allow me first to direct you to two openings that contemplate imagery from modern Japan: Scott Silvey’s paintings at Whitespace Gallery and Ayana Hinson’s photography at Naomi Silva Gallery (Bennet Street, in the same building as MOCA GA). Hinson co-headlines with Shannon L. Clark, another photographer and recent MFA from SCAD-Atlanta.

Interestingly, SCAD also is represented in Castleberry Hill by Allen Cooley, whose MFA exhibition opens at Gallery Stokes as part of their “Emerging Artist Series” (which notably included Meg Aubrey’s critically acclaimed I Just Live Here).

You can tell it’s graduation time, since student shows are popping up everywhere. For more proof, make a visit over to Art Relish (where I hear new things are brewing …) and check out the schedule in the left-hand column.

SATURDAY, MAY 23: Join us for a special concert at WonderRoot to raise funds for the Gather Atlanta!

SATURDAY, MAY 23

Don’t miss the Gather Atlanta fundraiser at WonderRoot Community Art Center, featuring music by Dead Rabbits, Buffalo Bangers, and Lunacy Commission. The concert is organized by Atlanta Creative Conscious, a crack team of promoters dedicated to raising money for nonprofits and local arts businesses. $5, doors open Saturday at 8PM.

While your out, be sure to check out MINT Gallery’s polaroid exhibition by Ryan Nabulsi! More from MINT:

In early 2008, the Polaroid Company announced that they would stop production on all of their instant films to focus on digital technology. Some have called this the end of an era; however, artist and photographer, Ryan Nabulsi, has insisted on … using Polaroid photographs as source imagery to address the medium’s death.

Please click this image: Mark Wentzel's Moral Hazard.

And if you’ve been as mystified as I have by Mark Wentzel’s auto installation, check out the artist’s talk at the Contemporary. Here’s an excerpt from his press release:

The central figure of the installation is a 1965 Ford Mustang …. An Edward Muybridge-esque wall drawing references American automotive, economic and lifestyle trends. The viewer becomes spectator, juror and haruspex to the ill-fated industry as it hangs in balance. Morale Hazard takes its cues from the classical Greek story of the Oath of Tyndareus and the Aztec zodiac, as well as, 19th Century technologies ….

The Contemporary, I discovered, also has podcasts. When did that happen? They go back as far as last year’s ACP.

And of course, Harold Group hosts the latest installment of guerilla art show/parties. These house shows typically feature food, music, and good hospitality (not to mention people watching …).

ONGOING: Aubrey Longley Cook

ONGOING

If you missed the Mondo Politico opening at Eyedrum last night, there’s still plenty of time to see the show (See also Cinque Hicks’ full-page feature in this week’s Creative Loafing.)

Except where otherwise noted, all events on our To Do Lists are free and open to the public. Keep checking previous Lists for more ongoing shows!

Craig Drennen, installation view.

Craig Drennen’s exhibition Mistresses, Apemantus, and Flattering Lords at Gallery Stokes is a tour de farce of conceptual brilliance and painterly bravura (its lack of actual “painterliness,” notwithstanding). The brilliance lies in the exhibition’s aesthetic translation of Timon of Athens, William Shakespeare’s most difficult and obscure play (though a very loose “translation,” consisting of painted assholes and flowers).

Craig Drennen, Third Mistress, oil on canvas + black line on wall, 2008

The play documents the initially optimistic nature of Timon, a young wealthy philanthropist who soon discovers the artificial and nonreciprocal dispositions of his friends. Timon then spurns his friends with rocks and water and takes to a cave in the wilderness, where he devises a plan to spread venereal disease to his urban foes, thereby assuming a special role in the verdant history of literary misanthropes. Vacillating into and out of favor with Timon are Flavius, Alciabadis, and Apemantus, a sort of ghost of Christmas future who not only foreshadows Tymon’s transformation into a man-hater, but also functions as an unconscious id communing with the audience on the vulgarities of real life.

Craig Drennen, Chorus, clocks and vinyl letters, 2009.

Taking the narrative as a cue, Drennen introduces his adaptation with a row of clocks in the front room of the gallery. They dubiously document the time in major cities and time zones, including Stratford-Upon-Avon. The clock presentation imbues the exhibition with a creepy into-the-looking-glass quality, reflecting the double nature that Shakespeare’s words would have yielded on stage. Further simulating plot and character development, Drennen circumscribes the gallery with directional black dashes that terminate in quaint hyper-real paintings of human sphincters and flowers. Two painterly signs support the wry ironic presentation. They read: “I’M WITH STUPID” and “I’M A FUCKING GENIUS.”

The ironic tone of the show reemphasizes Drennen’s interest in various converging strains of contemporary discourse on irony, linking Shakespeare with authors like Vladimir Nabokov and Charles Dickens—both of whom use varied and bracketed forms of representation to address social issues as well as the essential issues of representational media. Adding to the complexity, Drennen explains that the impetus to use Timon of Athens—and the film Supergirl, which inspired his last series of work—derives from both narratives’ obscure quality. Drennen claims that the “empty bandwidth” of both narratives’ cultural presence allows him to presumably make a neutral, contemporary statement using a baggage-laden history within a value-saturated world.

Untitled (For Apemantus), acrylic on paper + black line on wall, 2009

Like most art of its type, this conceptual approach attempts to recreate a reality that captures the isolated affectation and ecstasy of a personal world, without rehashing or making explicit the values and messages of the world it represents or critiques: Irony in a nutshell. However tautological, irony can be a difficult subject to address. Drennen’s refreshing irreverence for materials is somewhat at odds with his maybe overly forthcoming conceptual layout. Brilliant as the show’s premise may be, its reliance on explanation makes the show predictably contemporary, though a minor complaint given the show’s timely and well executed virtues.

WordPress Slideshow

(Photos courtesy Gallery Stokes)

Mistresses, Apemantus, and Flattering Lords will remain on view at Gallery Stokes through May 16.

SATURDAY: Jess Hinshaw at MINT Gallery

Expect a few surprises here at BurnAway.org over the summer (and don’t forget about Gather Atlanta on June 6!!). If you’d like to receive our new email newsletter, please send a blank email to burnawayga@gmail.com with NEWSLETTER in the subject heading.

As a change of pace, this week’s To Do List will follow in paragraph form, rather than entries by gallery.

FRIDAY: Machete at L5P Aurora Coffee and Atlantic Station

FRIDAY, MAY 1

Travis Dodd, aka Machete, makes a double appearance in a graduate photography exhibition at Atlantic Station as well as the solo show Dredged Brethren opening at L5P Aurora Coffee.

SATURDAY: SK8 or DIE at Young Blood Gallery

SATURDAY, MAY 2

Look out for Jess Hinshaw’s opening at MINT Gallery. At a venue that typically gravitates toward raucous group shows by emerging artists, Hinshaw’s solo exhibition attempts an ambitious commentary on the media as a “false mirror” and explores realism versus the hyperreal.

And even if you’re not exactly “into” skateboarding, there’s a lot to like about Young Blood Gallery’s fourth biannual skateboard show SK8 or DIE. Local and national artists including Matt Relkin, Steven Dixey, and Matt Haffner begin with a plain board and, through paint and sculptural build-ups or cutaways, create a work of art. (Look for one that involves a brown paper bag ….)

And don’t miss Joe Tsambiras’ solo exhibit of new drawings titled Golden Feelings at Eyedrum’s Small Gallery!

THURSDAY: Christopher Parrot at Spruill Gallery

THURSDAY, MAY 7

Christopher Parrott’s new drawings at Spruill Gallery are deftly executed depictions of what I like to think of as “dysfunctional relationships of the young and wealthy.” The subtext is casual, but there’s a subtle, subversive edge.

Peachtree Hills gets a Dose of Rock ‘N’ Roll at Hagedorn Foundation’s photography show of “intimate shots of Rock’s biggest icons from the 60′s and 70′s: John Lennon, Ringo Starr, The Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, and more.”

ONGOING

And don’t forget Craig Drennen’s solo exhibit at Gallery Stokes, a show inspired by Shakespeare featuring paintings of (in the words of a friend) “human sphincters and flowers.”

Except where otherwise noted, all events on our To Do Lists are free and open to the public. Keep checking previous Lists for more ongoing shows!

Bean Summer

The Castleberry Hill ArtStroll is here again this Friday, turning your normally sedate gallery hopping into a frantic rush to be everywhere and see everything before 10PM. To make your journey harder, a scattering of shows open outside Castleberry, as does one new gallery.

(And may we suggest Critical Mass as a suitable starting point for your Friday evening?)

FRIDAY, APRIL 24

THE TEMPOR-ARY
Pimsler-Hoss Architects sponsors the opening of The Tempor-ary Gallery, with photography by Allison Shockley, drawings by Phil Ralston, a video installation by Neil Fried, and an art installation by Michael Montagne. Showing for one night only, Fri. April 24 at 7PM.

Santiago Vanegas, Untitled, Lake Cochiti

NAOMI SILVA GALLERY
“Birds” and “Lake Cochiti”
Joel Conison’s “Birds” features portrait photography of birds at rest. Santiago Vanegas shows a selection of landscape photography from his Lake Cochiti series. On view April 24 through May 16. Opening reception tonight, 7PM.

GALLERY STOKES
Craig Drennen: Mistresses, Apemantus, and Flattering Lords
Craig Drennen makes paintings, drawings, and objects based on the dramatis personae from Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens. On view April 24 through May 16. Opens at Gallery Stokes tonight, 7PM.

ART HOUSE GALLERY
Thomson Moore: My Body Is Your Body
Thomson Moore presents a series of sculpture and performance art. (I took a sneak peek of his stuff last week – definitely worth seeing!). Opening reception April 24, 7PM.

SATURDAY, APRIL 25

SALTWORKS GALLERY
Elsewhere
Shinque Smith curates a selection of work covering a variety of media by Justin Anderson, Christine Bailey, Jane Benson, Jennie C. Jones, Marcus Morales, Erika Ranee, Sean Ryan, and Mickalene Thomas. These works are “loosely connected to ‘Golden Age’ or utopian ideals of pastoral literature and art.” On view April 25 through June 6. Saltworks holds an opening reception Saturday at 7PM.

GET THIS! GALLERY
Bean Summer presents a selection of his experimental media work at Get This! Gallery‘s new 11th Street location. Opens April 25 at 7PM, continues through May 16.

MINT GALLERY
Windows III
MINT Gallery presents the third year of its Windows series, featuring 15 artists using windows as a canvas for their work. One night only, April 25 at 8PM.

SUNDAY, APRIL 26

Spruill Gallery is hosting a flea market from 10AM-3PM in their parking lot. Artwork, junk, and treasures galore are promised by a large number of participating vendors and artists.

Except where otherwise noted, all events on our To Do Lists are free and open to the public. Keep checking previous Lists for more ongoing shows!

New works by BORN open at Beep Beep Gallery on Saturday.

Urban hiking, architectural photography, graffiti, and transgressive film—if any of these interests sound appealing, there’s an event for you this weekend or in the week ahead.

Filmmaker Nick Zedd working on set.

FRIDAY

WHITESPACE
The Cinema of Transgression
Whitespace runs its final underground film screening, featuring the black humor and notorious eroticism of filmmakers Richard Kern and Nick Zedd. More from Whitespace:

Convulsive, controversial and strictly over-the-top, the works of both Richard Kern and Nick Zedd have long been considered the sine qua non of in-your-face film making. Not for the faint of heart nor weak of stomach, this is film for connoisseurs of the dank and the dangerous. Frankly and stankly erotical.

The screening starts at 9PM tonight, Fri. April 10 at Whitespace Gallery.

EMILY AMY GALLERY
Paint as Subject group show
Featuring work by Dorothy Goode, James Leonard, Melanie Parke, and Carl Plansky, this exhibition meditates on the medium of paint as such:

By studying their application, manipulation, and removal of paint from the canvas with brushes, trowels, palette knives and other tools, it is clear that each of the artists featured in this upcoming show value the importance of paint. In fact, it becomes what the painting is all about.

The opening reception is from 7-10PM at Emily Amy Gallery, and the exhibition continues through May 6.

KAVARNA
Vishnu: New works by SAINT
In what may become a continuing graphic novel, SAINT’s “Vishnu” drawings will be on display from 7PM-close at Kavarna coffee bar.

Dosa Kim guides a hiking tour of Atlanta graffiti on Saturday. Photo by Rob Sutton.

SATURDAY

BEEP BEEP GALLERY
Relief: New works by BORN
A noted graffiti writer in his own right, BORN’s new object-based exhibition is a fresh change of pace. See Creative Loafing’s Culture Surfing for links to preview images, a YouTube video interview, and some of BORN’s previous work. The show opens from 8-11PM, Sat. April 11 at Beep Beep Gallery. The show continues through May 3.

PARKGROUNDS/WONDERROOT
Graffiti Urban Hike with Dosa Kim
WonderRoot sponsors an urban hike on the first Saturday of every month. Expect something special this time: a “tour of some of Atlanta’s best graffiti and public art” led by local artist Dosa Kim. Prospective hikers should meet at ParkGrounds coffee shop at 10AM, Sat. April 11 or email urbanhiking@wonderroot.org for more info.

Heidi Aishman artist talk at Gallery Stokes.

GALLERY STOKES
Heidi Aishman artist talk
Heidi Aishman speaks about her new exhibition, You Can’t Win That! (see also Meghan Norman’s review). The talk begins at 2PM at Gallery Stokes.

EAST ATLANTA TATTOO
The MAD Generation group show
Nearly 40 artists participate in this show inspired by the imagery of Mad Magazine, opening from 7-11PM at the Gallery at East Atlanta Tattoo. The show continues though April 25.

Photography by Richard Pare opens at Lumière Gallery on Thursday.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY

LUMIÈRE GALLERY
Richard Pare: Russian Modernist Architecture, 1922-1932
Lumière Gallery, a fine art photography gallery located in Peachtree Hills, hosts an exhibition of Russian architectural photography by Richard Pare. Pare will deliver an artist talk on Wed. April 15 at 7PM at the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, followed by a separate opening reception Thurs. April 16 from 6:30-8:30PM at Lumière Gallery.

*Except where otherwise noted, all events on our To Do Lists are free and open to the public. Keep checking previous Lists for more ongoing shows!

Installation view, Heidi Aishman: You Can't Win That! Photo courtesy Gallery Stokes.

I was intrigued to hear about Heidi Aishman’s show, “You Can’t Win That!” at Gallery Stokes. As a child, I had an obsession with stuffed animals (what little girl didn’t?). I was always on the hunt for new additions to the collection. In a nutshell, the essence of Aishman’s show is just that: her obsession with the claw machine, the prizes contained inside, and the endless hunt for stuffed animals.

The claw machine, often found in arcades, supermarkets, or movie theatres, has a notorious reputation for its difficulty and (especially for fiscally concerned parents) for being a waste of money. Aishman states that her current work is about the desire for the unobtainable — after being told that she too would never win the claw machine. While entertaining and optimistic, the show also relies heavily on ideas originated in the Dada movement of the early 20th century, such as chance and the readymade.

Curvature. Photo by Meghan Norman.

The artwork placement follows a certain logic through the exhibition. The hallway leading to the main gallery space displays five sheets of graph paper, each posing a question at the top, followed by “calculations” in attempt to find a solution. The questions cover topics from the logistics of stuffed animal stacking to even the curvature of the claw hand. The amount of thought behind Aishman’s study of the claw machine is compelling, considering that most people over age of 13 walk by them without so much as a glance.

Even after all this preparation, the element of chance remains: you could be aiming for the elephant, but still end up with the pig right beside it. The Dadaists embraced chance as a way to challenge artistic conventions and relinquish control. Aishman takes a machine many assumed to be rigged and governed by chance, and tries to control it.

Detail, Mounted Heads. Photograph courtesy of Gallery Stokes.

Around the corner, a stuffed animal trophy wall, Mounted Heads, references the mounted taxidermy some proudly display in their homes. Aishman’s version, however, contains Disney characters, patriotic elephants, fire breathing dragons, a Peep, and a Boston Red Sox bear, just to name a few. While the placement works well enough, the silhouettes on the wall (depicting a herd of deer in the background) tend to distract and disrupt the flow between the mounted heads.

Bear Skin Rug. Photo by Meghan Norman.

A similar work, Bear Skin Rug, rests on the gallery floor. As the title implies, this “rug” represents a bear skin, albeit a more bear-friendly version. Aishman’s prized, claw machine possessions combine an exploration of niche pop culture with another tradition of the Dada movement: the readymade. “You Can’t Win That!” is an entertaining show, taking a unique obsession with a claw machine and displaying it as art.

Heidi Aishman: You Can’t Win That! at Gallery Stokes runs until April 18. On Saturday, April 11, Heidi Aishman will give an artist talk at 2PM.

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, We Wanderers

Spring showers bring sparse but interesting offerings this week, including underground film at Whitespace and glass bead collage at Marcia Wood Gallery.

Heidi Aishman, Stuft

FRIDAY

Gallery Stokes
Heidi Aishman
In the collections “Stuft,” “Mounted,” “Inards,” and “Pelts,” Aishman literally deconstructs children’s stuffed animals, mounting them as hunting trophies or leaving their disemboweled remains strewn haphazardly. Aishman’s exhibition opens March 27 during Castleberry Hill’s Fourth Friday Art Walk. The show continues through April 18 at Gallery Stokes.

Whitespace Gallery
Screening and discussion: Is My Brain a Germ or Disease
The first of a three-week short film series at Whitespace, “Is My Brain a Germ or Disease” features a screening and discussion of Mary Jordan’s Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis. The documentary explores the work of influential 60s film maker and artist Jack Smith. The film series, curated by Brad Lapin, continues at Whitespace April 3 and April 10.

SATURDAY

Center for Puppetry Arts
Film: Monster Road
Another documentary film, Monster Road follows revolutionary underground clay animator Bruce Bickford, examining influences of Cold War paranoia and exploring his collaborations with Frank Zappa. A question and answer session with director Brett Ingram will be held after the film. The documentary will be shown at the Center for Puppetry Arts March 28 at 8PM. $7, $5 for CPA members.

Bruce Bickford, still from Prometheus' Garden

WEDNESDAY

WonderRoot TV
WonderRoot Community Arts Center screens a monthly, volunteer-organized video program, WonderRoot TV, on every first Wednesday of the month at 8PM.

THURSDAY

Museum of Design Atlanta
Sketchbook Project Tour
Art House Co-op’s Sketchbook Tour has already visited venues in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Brooklyn, and Washington, DC. The next stop? A return to Atlanta. The exhibit opens April 3 at 7PM at MODA.

Marcia Wood Gallery
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum
Describing her work, Sunstrum writes:

In my work I allude to my own nomadic upbringing through references to travel, searching and migration as a way of understanding my own shifting, transnational, cultural identity …. I am also interested in what happens psychologically in the moments of cultural isolation that accompany travel, migration and other processes of (dis)location. In my work I respond to these moments by replicating myself—creating simultaneous selves and simultaneous worlds in order to haze at myself, to meet myself and give myself things to keep or carry, receive or transmit. These notions of simultaneity and transmission often surface in my work as repetition, as play, and as ritual.

The opening for Sunstrum’s exhibit, which features glass bead and collage work, is Apr 2 from 7-9PM at Marcia Wood Gallery. The exhibit will be on display through May 9.