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by LIZZIE ZUCKER SALTZ
WHAT ART ASHEVILLE CAN TEACH
ART ATHENS
"Figuratively Speaking," at Blue Spiral Gallery,
Asheville, N C. (821) 251 0202. Through February 27.
While whizzing along gieen highways on a long overdue trip
to finally check out Asheville, N.C., I noticed that its population
is a mere 45,000 — 50,000
less than Athens. Yet
Asheville's formidable her
itage of 1920s Deco build
ings and the fact that it is
home to one of the
Southeast's few financially
robust centers of art com
merce helps make it feel
infinitely more citified
than our comfy home
town grid.
I was driven out of
town by a desire to see
how work by two of
Athens' most accomplished
painters, Scott Belville and
Jimmy Bursenos, would
fare in the context of
“Figuratively Speaking,"
an exhibit organized by
Asheville's Blue Spiral
Gallery featuring over 30
regional artists' treatment
of that age-old subject,
the human form. And
while it is always a thrill
to see made-in-Athens art
works serve as emissaries
of our unique cultural
flavor, that thrill is always
melancholia-tinged by the
accompanying reminder of
how little we get to enjoy,
and proht horn, that little
light of ours at home due to the deaith of locally oriented, pro
fessional art venues.
This reaction not only held tiue, but was magnified unnerv-
ingly by my encounter with Belville's and Bursenos’ unflinch
ingly modest and intriguing works pulsing sincerity amid the
hyper-commercialized, blindingly shiny, three-story high art
palace that is Blue Spiral. That the gallery upstages the art is an
understatement. John Cram, the gallery's owner, has
unabashedly conceded in
print that his atypical,
resort-boutique exhibition
style is a premeditated
"department store"
approach he came to after
presenting artists in tradi
tional one-month exhibits
for years with disap
pointing results.
Cram has a precedent in
Japan's long-standing pop
ulist tradition of incorpo
rating cutting edge fine art
and high-level craft exhibi
tions into major depart
ment stores. But here in
the States, this flavor of
private-sector artistic sup
port is as rare as collards in
the Northeast. In marked
contrast to the rest of the
planet's industrialized
nations we oblige the arts,
a la Blanche Dubois, to
"always depends on the
kindness of strangers." This
national penchant spawns a
distinctly pathetic,
Blanche-ish, schizophrenic
personality among our
artistic institutions, which
is obscured, true to its
Blanche-psychology, by a
fiercely maintained, self-
delusional self-image of innate superiority and exceptional bril
liance — a dysfunctionality which was "outed" in the NEA cul
ture wars of the early '90s.
In contrast, John Cram's down-home, unpretentious attitude
that "art should be sold like good mattresses lather than fine
wines" initially struck me as downright refreshing. This effect is
reinforced by the fact that Blue Spiral is just one leg of a veri
table franchise of art establishments that this Business maga
zine proclaimed "Hippie Entrepreneur" has developed since
1972. Among the many constellations in the multi-million dollar
Cram art universe are an upscale wearable-art clothing boutique,
a moderately priced hand-made crafts department store, a fine
arts cinema with an impressive indie and foreign him line-up,
and the wildly popular Asheville Annual Craft Fair. The guy is a
one-man urban development engine who has made an enormous
difference to his community and the economic well-being of
Southeastern artists. Even though he didn't break even for his
first five years, 25 years later he can get bank loans for $500,000
approved by suits who usually would no sooner trust a strug
gling Peruvian tamale-maker than a gallery owner with a
master's degree. (Perhaps we should require a week-long stay in
Asheville for our own Mssrs. Crace and Jackson and the othe*
Downtown Development bureaucrats?)
There is a downside to the seductive, All-American habit of
conflating profitability with quality. And that downside is aes
thetic. The mental glare flashing off all this success blinds one
to the underlying nausea brought on by inhaling great gusts of
truly awful kitsch in the same breath with heart-on-a-platter
art. Even the most intimate and heartfelt figurative artwork
pales and takes on a strange new peacockish sheen when set in
Blue Spiral's "postmodern by accident" milieu, an effect created
by the tasteful showcasing of such a wildly disparate passel of
Southeastern artists, weakly bound by a barely defined theme.
All of this art product competing on capitalism's "level .Maying-
field/marketplace of ideas" results in an implied relativism with
the same mawkishly patronizing, nicey-nice odor of all those ill-
advised government "diversity" policies that have contributed to
the late '90s P.C. backlash. And it is this odor of inclusion based
on a glossy standard of "sale-ability" that distracted me from
contemplating the tone and tenor of the collective mental land
scape that effective regional art can manifest.
It is indeed a tribute to our own Belville and Bursenos, as
well as Southeastern artists Tucker Cooke, Shane Ferro, Hoss
Haley, Allen Linder, Stuart Riordan, Daniel Tropy, Leroy Young
and the 1930s era Will Henry Stevens, that their honest, and, in
some cases, risky artworks managed to transcend the glitzy
environs — especially in light of the fact that they were sur
rounded by the work of the remaining 22 artists in this exhibit
who were either too weak, too facile, too blatantly derivative, or
just too damn smug to do more than blend into the vainglorious
architecture. But quality artwork, in any environment, is always
worth it. And even after this exhibit is officially over, many of
these same artists' works will be found on the gallery's top floor
in their general inventory rooms, where you can also view some
fine pieces by Athens' own Judy Jones and Melissa Harshman.
So take a drive up to Blue Spiral in the next couple of days,
if for no other reason than to contemplate its success due to one
man's persistent efforts to make art thrive in a tiny
Southeastern city. C
Scott Belville. Smoke, Oil on Board.
ART
by MELISSA LINK
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• The Visual Arts Division of the
University Union is accepting applica
tions IrofTi artists wishing to exhibit in
the Tate Student Center Gallery
Application deadline is March 5 Call
542-6396 tor details
• Atlanta's annual IMAGE Film &
Video Festival takes place in June
Deadline lor entries is Feb 26 Call
(404) 352-4254 or check the web at
www imagefv org /or details
events
• UVA professor Daniel Ehnbom
discusses sculpture ot the Indian
subcontinent at 5 30 p m on
Thursday. Feb 25 at the GMOA
• The Printmaking Student
Association holds its annual Print
Sale Irom 9 a m to 5 p m on March
3-4 at the Lamar Dodd School ot
Ait on Jackson Street A reception lor
the UGA printmaking department s 11th
annual Juried Printmaking and
Book Arts Exhibition takes place at
5 30 p m on Tuesday, March 2 m the
Lamar Dodd School ol Art
• The Cotton Patch Quitters host
Reflections 99' a quilt show and
sale dt the Oconee County Civic
Center March 5-7 For more into call
Mary Oliver al 543-0070
CUSSES
• Spectrum Studio Galleries otters
assorted art classes tor kids and adults
including tell making, puppetry, and
video Call 208-8177 lor more info
• Good Dirt Athens’ ceramic and
visual ads workcenter. offers various art
classes for alt ages Call 355-3161 lor
more info
SHOWS AROUND TOWN
• The Rolling Stones Covers Tour
comes to the Tate Student Cente'
through Feb 25 in Georgia Hall The
exhibit includes well-known ass-
lickmg images ol talents and frauds
alike by photographers such as Annie
Leibovitz, Steven Meisel, Herb
RMs and others Also on display is
rock and roll memorabilia horn the
like* ot John Lennon, Bruce
Springsteen and Marilyn Manson
For more into oatl 542-6396
• ACC Library 'Medieval Times' is
an I'xh.bition ot work by students ol the
Lyndon House Arts Center's
'pagination Station art classes The
show hangs through March 31
Paintings by Hildegarde
Timberlake hang on the second floor
Kudzu baskets by Ginni Edwards are
on display in thp Heritage Room
through February
• African American Cultural
Center (Memorial Hall) work by stu
dent Monica Manuel through Feb
26.
• Athens Brewing Company 'Cut
and Sewn.' paintings by Beth Sale
through February
• Aurum Studios paintings by
Anne Laurie Dodd through Feb 28
• Blue Sky Coffee Paintings by
Wendy Giminski and Terry
Rowlett hang through March
• Clayton Street Gallery 'One
Year* features landscape paintings by
Greg Benson through Feb 2?
• Book Peddlers Art inspired by
Henn Rousseau by Athens Academy
first graders
• Empire Exchange House and
Gallery "Collective Collage" ts an
exhibit ot coitage works by nine local
artists including Kenny Aguar. Katja
Seltmann, Jeff Owens, Chris
Cogan, Chris Cotter, Mr. Law.
Kera Porcellino, Peter Frey and
Omar Kahlid The show hangs
through Feb 27
• Five Star Day Cat* paintings try
Hannah Jones, Nicole Shiflet and
Beta Sale througn February
• Georgia Museum ot Art
"Before 1948: Masterpieces ot
American Painting from Georgia
Collections" and "With These
Handsan exhibit of slave-made
obiects. through March 14 "Winslow
Homer and the Elusive African-
American Boy" through March 28
“Heritage ot the Brush " a display
ol Chinese scrolls and Ian paintings,
through March 28
• The Grit Work by Andy
Cherewick and Lou Kregel hangs
through Feb 27 Paintings by Hannah
Jones and ‘Hang on to Your Ego.'
pamtmgs/sculptures by Dylan
Neuwirth. hang through March 20
• Heart’s Eye Gallery (now f. five
Points 1 ) Work by Mary Porter, Jim
Stipe-Msas, Gwen Nagel.
Frances Chapman, Eili Salt and
Nancy Carter
• Hole in the Wall Creative paint
mgs by Bethany Marchman hang
through mid-Mart h
• Lamar Dodd School ot Art UGA
prmlmakinq department's nth annual
Juried Printmaking and Book Arts
Exhibition runs Feb 28 through
March 2
• Last Resort Grill work by Burney
Harris Lyons through February
• Loblolly Frame Shop & Gallery
assorted work by local artists
• Loef Gallery artwork and fine
crafts by local artists
• Manuel's, the Next Generation
work by Mike Oaily hangs through
February
• Marrakech Express woodland
and water black and white photographs
by Mark Steinmetz
• Oconee County Library paintings
by Robin Fay hang through February
• Spectrum Studio Galleries in
Five Points Featured work includes
Brian Smith's yard art. as well as
Lithuanian painted eggs and Tibetan
cut-outs by Shelly Griska
• Strand in Five Points Photos by
Amy Hairston and ceramics by C.
Keen Zero hang through March
• Tate Student Center Gallery
The 12th Annual Student
Photog;aphy Show hangs Feb 22-
March 19
• Thompson Gallery "Ai'torcide." a
drawing installation by New York artist
Richard Oeenis hangs through
March 12
• The Winery new .vork by Garland
Sutton
• Wired & Fired
cards by Pilar Pages paintings by
Amber Wigget. and pottery ly
Travis Crown through February
OTHER SHOWS
• “A Young Girl at Ghetto Terezin:
1941-1944 Drawings by Helga
Weissova Hoskova ' is an exhibition
ot drawings by a young German girl
living in Nazi Czechoslovakia al the
Madlson-Morgan Cultural Center
through March 31
• The Simmons Visual Arts Center
at Brenau University in Gainesville. Ga
presents ar exhibit ot works by Frank
Stella as well as 'An Artistic
Friendship in Reli'H,' teatunng work by
Bob Blackburn and Will Barnet
Both shows hang through March 20
• The Monroe Art Guild host*
“Steftan Thomas: The Creative
Non-Conformist" through Feb 2-
Call (720) 207-8937 lor more info
• Turn ol the century photos of
Talmo, Ga. by Cicero Simmons are
on display at the Crawford W. Long
Museum in Jefferson Call (706) 357-
5307 for details
• The Madlson-Morgan Cultural
Center hosts the exhibit "East/West
Ancient American Art From the
Coastal Regions of Moilco,"
through April 4
FEBRUARY 24, 1999 FLAGPOLE □