One thing that many of the works in Artlink’s “Self Portrait” show have in common is their titles.
It may be the only thing they have in common.
Many of the works are called, simply, “Self Portrait.”
Deb Washler says the gallery’s education coordinator Suzanne Galazka tried to convince some of the artists to come up with flashier titles but to no avail. Otherwise, there are few similarities among the ways the 113 artists in the show went about envisioning and realizing themselves.
“There’s abstraction and representational work,” Washler says. “And a lot of people use words.”
The “Self Portrait” exhibition opens with a reception tonight.
Jerri Martin’s self-portrait is an upturned ceramic face that to some extent resembles (and, hopefully, Martin won’t be offended by this) a fish ascending from the depths.
Theresa Thompson’s manipulated photo of the artist standing next to an antique television looks uncannily like an oil painting, and Melinda Henning’s self-portrait consists of lips (presumably belonging to the artist) mouthing the word “self” across three panels.
Tom Kelly’s multi-paneled work is like a comic strip that grows murkier in image and tone until it culminates, as everything does for all of us, in the darkest place of all: the grave.
Patrick Gainer’s “I Am Not Your Babe” consists of a vaguely grumpy-looking, spotted, and anatomically correct, pig and Patrice Farmer’s wall-mounted, three-dimensional head has assisted the artist with parenting, according to Washler.
Washler says that when Farmer grows frustrated with her children, she points to the wall and says, “Talk to the head.”
One of the first things visitors to the exhibit will see when they enter Artlink is the face of artist Caitlin Crowley looking a little like she wants to punch someone’s lights out.
“She’s our greeter at the door,” Washler says, gleefully.
There have been some changes at Artlink in the three months since the gallery moved into the Auer Center for Arts and Culture from its former home in the Hall Community Arts Center, Washler says.
For one thing, Washler says she and her staff expect that they will need seven days to set up a new exhibit in the expanded space, whereas the installation process in the gallery’s former location didn’t always require that much time.
And Artlink has acquired many new members since it moved to Main Street.
Washler thinks it has something to do with increased foot traffic.
“Part of it is that people are finding us,” she says. “I know that sounds really weird. We’re only a few blocks from where we were.
“But people have been coming in and saying things like, ‘How long have you been around?’ “ Washler says. “People have asked if we’re open to the general public.”
The general public and the artists who exhibit their work at Artlink have always loved the periodic “Self Portrait” shows, even though they don’t have the easy marketability of shows devoted to cars or Sharpie art.
Washler says artists love it partly because of the pithy role that the self-portrait has played in art history. And visitors love it because “they really want to see how the artists perceive their own likeness,” she says.
“This one is pretty diverse in terms of how the artists see themselves,” Washler says.
