"All Stars" by Teresa J. Parker debuts at Museo Tecleno MUTE

Greetings to all my inked up comrades.

Pardon my brief online absence as I have been feverishly at work preparing for my first ever museum exhibition. The making of new work is never as arduous as its shipping and anticipated safe arrival to parts far flung. I am pleased to report that four new series of prints and drawings will debut July 12th at the Museo Tecleno MUTE, a suburb of San Salvador, in Santa Tecla. The series for this exhibition are: 1) the ‘Baby Bird Suite’, prints conceived in part from Francisco de Goya's Caprichos prints, about illegal adoptions in Central America, 2) ‘Battered Madonnas’, which debuted in Guatemala in 2012, is about making iconic madonnas out of domestic violence victims, 3) the ‘All Stars’ is a new print series about the growing occurrence of filicide, and 4) ‘Domestic Bliss’ are new drawings tying together the theme of Battered madonnas. Many thanks to my art comrade and friend John Sevigny for including me in this joint exhibition of our works. Sevigny will be showing his now well-known "NOMADS" project, on the subject of migration from Central America through Mexico.

While I am loathe to go into much detail about my own work, I am posting this new project here for your review. (Warning* The subject of this series may be difficult for some readers.)

The ‘All Stars’ project came about as an extension of my long-standing theme relating to women and children. My earlier series, the Battered Madonnas, previously shown in Guatemala and Mexico, discusses in visual form the physical and spiritual scars of domestic violence - a topic not much discussed. My current project “All Stars” also crosses a bridge not often discussed, except in hushed tones and to make one shudder. Filicide is a growing phenomenon, and the alarming number of occurrences in the United States alone is staggering and heart-breaking. It’s a subject I don’t pretend to understand, nor condone, but as a mother and an artist, I feel I must make a statement. The exhibition contains twelve portraits of women charged and convicted of filicide, although I am only displaying ten here.

The nature of madonnas(young mothers) and matriarchs is to nurture and care for their children and their extended families. It is a natural and sacred responsibility that has been in place since the dawn of humankind. Yet, as present global events and situations take their emotional, physical and spiritual toll upon men and women, something essentially human is breaking down. The nature of familial units separate, grow distant and sometimes break apart. No one can conceive how a mother could take the life of her child, but it does happen, and the reasons are varied. This series is a structural look at the faces of these women and caregivers. There is no one thing that speaks to their individual circumstances, rather I chose in these prints to de-personify these subjects, to look at them as objects, yet elements of their personalities came through. I will let you view them without further comment, but it is hoped that you will share your impressions with your colleagues, family and friends.

The Smoke and Fire Disasters of War by Adrian Barron

“I see printmaking as a game of two… between the work and the process. “

A young artist of British/Belizean nationality who describes the horrors of war is Adrian Barron( b. 1965 - ) He was born in Hanover, Germany and travels between Europe, Asia, and Central America making and exhibiting his work. I will focus on two of his series which deal with war and the effects of an invasion.

‘Smoke/Sybils/After John White’s Algonquians’ is a series of prints which project scenes of a dark place full of dread. His images are left in black and white, although some more recent series are branching into some sophisticated colors combinations. Still, the feeling one gets from seeing these Smoke images is tense. A building enveloped in smoke foretells doom; loss of the physical house structure being on fire, and doom for the those affected by the tragedy lying before them. One doesn’t quite know if an enemy has already come and gone from a village of Belizean colonial homes, but it would seem apparent that the people inside are dead or they’ve abandoned their homes in the wake of an impending invasion. The enemy that perpetrated this disaster upon the village is unseen, making the situation uncomfortable because we don’t yet know if they left the area, or whether they will return. In any event, this is a place filled with death and destruction. 

The presence of smoke billowing out of the homes is velvety and seductive, and it makes us hold our breaths so we don’t inhale.  As an series about war, it shows the us the aftermath of a battle, what is left to burn, as the troops push on to their next engagement. The quiet crackling of wood is the only thing one hears. We as viewers want to call out to the homes to see if someone is still there, if there are survivors, but the darkness of Barron’s view informs us that effort would be futile. The smoke disturbs us also in that it is a living presence.  We will move away from this area, but the soot and smell of the smoke has stained our bodies, hair and clothes. It has left its imprint into our skins, and while we could wash that physical residue away, the memories will stay with us a lifetime.

Barron aptly describes the residual effects as the memories of who lived in these houses,  the equation of the home as a repository of our lives  and collection of the family and clan’s soul. It is gone as are the people who once lived here. The loss is palpable….

Barron’s use of Belizean colonial homes are some throwback to his ancestral past, the wages of colonial aggression is world-wide, and Central America saw its fair share where their ancient ruins sit next to urban areas, and the people who currently live there have no memory nor any genetic connections to the past. They migrated there after the destruction of invading European forces in the 1600s. They aren’t from the land so the ruins mean nothing to them. Such is the situation in a hundred countries around the globe where people are slaughtered and towns and regions legacies disappear forever……

I enjoy the mastery of Barron’s craft, and the images are rich and multi-dimensional. His series of faceless people wearing khakis appear to be militaristic groups marching and taking orders. Not being familiar with the artists’ background, I can only imagine he has seen some military service. Those images are equally interesting with his camouflaged tank series  emerging out of billowing smoke and charging down upon the viewer. We see the tank almost the moment it tramples us. Set within a space of those images, the tanks would seem to come from all sides, and one could imagine quite well the chaos servicemen experience if they are in the middle of a battlefield. Black and white generalizes the picture and we aren’t caught up into it completely because we can detach from the scene, but in color, the effects would be even more startlingly chaotic. 

Barron’s website moves toward his more recent work where his garden is the source of natural wonder. The delicacy of those intimate pieces is in sharp contrast to the heavy-hitting nature of his previous work. I can’t say I care for the recent prints, yet they can arrest one’s view when compared with the earlier work. I will watch them as they move out of their embryonic phase.

I confess not to enjoy or like the images of war, but many notable artists – the German Expressionists, Matthew Brady, John Sevigny, Leon Golub, Eugene Delacroix and Theodore Gericault and particularly Francisco Goya each have given the public a lesson about its horrors, some more directly than others. Barron’s works allude to the horror, but he leaves out the gore, warning us effectively that human displacement and their sacrifices aren’t worth a damn.

Credentials

1965      Born in Hannover, Germany. British/Belizean nationality

1993      The Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK

1990      Norwich School of Art, Norwich, UK

Awards

2010         Idlicote Art Prize

2007         Fenton Arts Trust Award

1994         John Purcell prize for Printmaking

1993         British Institute Award, RA
1991         The Noel Spencer Prize

Exhibitions

2010         ‘Untitled’, Byam Shaw School of Art Gallery, London, UK

                  '4th Annual Book Fair', Contemporary Art Centre, New York, USA

2009         'Identity', Mott Factory Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

                  'Landings 10', MEIAC, Badajoz, Spain

2009         Beyond the Hortus', E.A.A. Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia

2007        'Symbiosis',  Gallery Wildeshausen, Wildeshausen, Germany
2001         'Cathedral Project', Poustinia Earth Art Park, Belize

Milagros Y Madonnas, by Teresa J. Parker, reviewed at Gone City

For a recent review of my artwork on the subject of Battered Madonnas, and milagros, currently showing at Casa Roja in Guatemala, refer to Gone City, a blog published by John Sevigny.

John Sevigny writes about Teresa J. Parker's "She Hoped for Better"

This review was written for my piece in the Mid America Print Council Show by fellow art warrior John Sevigny....Many thanks, my friend.


Symbols are potentially the most effective tools artists have at their disposal. They communicate with a clarity that goes beyond language, and if we are to judge by the success of symbolism in organized religion, particularly Roman Catholicism, they not only speak, but hold the power to change world views over issues as important as life and death; heaven and hell. 

Teresa J. Parker has become a master symbolist, not in the upper case, Modernist sense of the word, which recalls the French poetry movement of the same name, but in a more primeval way, drawing upon simple, ancient forms to communicate complex truths about the human condition, our desires, and in a larger sense, the permanence of art itself in a world in which nothing seems to last more than 30 seconds anymore. 

"She Hoped for Better," is an example of Parker drawing upon influences as diverse as Francisco Goya, Roman Catholic iconography, the Imagist movement of her hometown of Chicago, and her own gender, to illustrate a wordless fable about one woman who has survived a mastectomy made necessary by breast cancer.

The print is actually three images, the largest showing a woman wearing two misshapen breasts nonetheless turning away from a more perfect pair on a tabletop behind her. Below this larger image are two smaller ones, a foot and a hand that recall milagros, small metal medallions frequently pinned to the dresses of representations of Christ and the Virgin in churches all over the developing world. While this piece, like much of Parker's work, deals directly with breast cancer, a preventable and treatable disease that nonetheless kills countless women every year, it also contains another story: one about the sense of physical imperfection all women, and perhaps all human beings experience. It is probably inevitable that for women, feelings of imperfection, which are of course experienced by everyone, tend to focus on breast size, shape and health. This is not a choice women necessarily make. It comes from powerful messages sent echoing across our society, and through our minds, by the media, which is simultaneously, and almost impossibly obsessed with and repelled by breasts. 

The woman in the illustration has had a double mastectomy. She has been "fitted" with "flawed" breasts, and after longing for a more perfect pair, turns away, and finds freedom, not only from her disease, but from sickness of modern thought, which would categorize breasts as sexual objects to be hidden or used to titillate, but which can never, ever be perfect (even in photographs in men's magazines, breasts are regularly doctored up up to make them smoother, more equally sized, and more fictionally perfect). 

The name of the print is certainly an intentional or unintentional nod to another artist, early-19th Century Spanish printmaker and painter Francisco Goya, considered the father of Modernist social criticism. In los Capricios, a series of prints poking fun at everyone from prostitutes and court judges, to the doctors, lawyers and the yuppies of his Contemporary Madrid, Goya frequently used one-sentence titles to give us just enough information to understand an image. 

The use of the past tense in this particular title tells us what while she had hoped for better, she no longer does. She is moving forward in her life, imperfect perhaps, according to someone's standards, but nonetheless, a survivor, stronger and wiser for the experiences she's had. 

Erin Holscher Almazan's "Routine #2" is anything but at the MAPC Show

Erin Holscher-Almazan's "Routine #2" is anything but routine. It is a tour de force of drawing, composition,  and richness of what print makers love to get into - black, black, black ink. This print shows Almazan's technical virtuosity, but what appeals moreso is the impact of the image. It's not just some mere academic exercise, and it's not just how she composes the woman in her scanty, little black slip. There is something in how Almazan presents the overwhelming sensuality of this woman in her prime.

The ease with which Almazan captures this woman's essence lets us understand and feel her vulnerabilities. It is a visceral reaction to being essentially human.  Yet, something is amiss. She withdraws within herself, expressing frustration, anguish, remorse, loss and ultimately - resolve. There is great strength in this woman, even as she retreats. The marks that encircle the woman emanate some protective layer from the blackness that surrounds her body and her thoughts. It reminds me of  the strengths of Schiele's work, some of the expressiveness of the Pre-Raphaelite madonnas, and some of the El Muerto photograph series of John Sevigny. This is an excellent work, and one looks forward to seeing more of Almazan's  explorations of the human experience.

John Sevigny's "TRI" exhibition makes its Midwest debut October 7 at the Chicago Photography Center

http://gonecity.blogspot.comA selection of photographs from John Sevigny's decade long 'visit' to Mexico, will make is Midwest premiere at the Chicago Photography Center this coming Friday, October 7th. Sevigny has chosen works that reflect his often nomadic pathway through the big cities and small towns, often choosing images that show another side of Mexican life, a side that is sometimes sad, tragic, poignant and yet, delivers a sucker punch to the gut. His unscathing approach, revealing the underbelly of the lives of everyday Mexicans, not the glamorous resort 'fun in the sun' beaches or tourist areas, shows a more meaningful and thoughtful side of our southern neighbor which is going through some pretty chaotic and horrific times. Sevigny will be present at the reception , and will give a brief discussion on the work. Reception starts at 7pm.

Fore more info contact Caitlyn at 
Phone: (773) 549-1631
3301 N. Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657

Coming October 4th...John Sevigny presentation on "Violence in Latin America" at College of DuPage

Noted photographer and writer John Sevigny will present a collection of his writings and photographs at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL this Tuesday, October 4th, at 1pm. He will reflect on his observations and experiences of having lived in Northern Mexico for the past decade; in an area now becoming internationally known for its dangerous unrest and rampant gang/drug/domestic violence which is destroying the country. The lecture is sponsored be the Latin American Studies Committee at College of DuPage. Many thanks to Professor John Paris and Dr. Elizabeth Mares for their support and coordination of this important event.