Mixed Bag: An Assortment of Contemporary Art is an exhibition consisting of 5 major artists that aim to display various perspectives within contemporary craft communities. The artists are Max Adrian (Columbus, Ohio), Emily Culver (Richmond Virginia), Elyse-Krista Mische (Appleton, Wisconsin), M. Paige Ward (Gatlinburg, Tennessee), and Xia Zhang (Tulsa, Oklahoma). The Valdosta State University Dedo Maranville Fine Arts gallery shows a text panel at the entrance of the gallery. It highlights the artists aim to examine and challenge the social issues that are difficult to discuss. For example, sexuality, queerness, faith, race, and death are some of the themes they explore. Though different in many ways, they unite through these heartfelt themes.[1] Each artist shared experience as the Artists-in-Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee from June 2017 to May 2018. Since their separation, Mixed Bag now serves as the first reunion of their works in almost a year.
The location and atmosphere are welcoming and open. As you view the artworks, the friendly reference desk personnel are happy to help in the back of the gallery. The open space gives the audience enough room to appreciate each artwork. The exhibition is organized in a spacious manner that allows each viewer to appreciate the gallery. When the viewer first enters, the official text panel of the exhibition is on the right and each artist statement text panel is near their artwork. This helps the viewer understand the context and goal of each piece in spite of whichever direction they encounter the art. However, some of the artists’ works are not directly next to each other which could cause the audience to search for the text panel that is near their other piece. The warm color scheme varies throughout the crafts and unifies the exhibition aesthetically. The social issues unify the exhibition because each artwork holds a deeper meaning. For example, the contextual meaning may not be the same as the literal meaning which could challenge the viewer’s mental. The vanilla wall color allows the viewer to focus on their interpretation of the well-lit artworks.
Under the Weight of Model Minority Tears/Truck Nuts is a framed archival pigment print that uses tears/truck nuts by Xia Zhang. Zhang intends to “create from an autobiographical narrative, utilizing process as a medium to convey intersectional concepts of craft, colonialism, and femininity.”[2] The subject matter is two identical pictures of an Asian woman holding a multitude of tears/truck nuts around her body. Yet, her head is cropped off, particularly her eyes. The fleshy pink background nearly blends with the subject’s skin. The tears are not real tears. They are objects shaped like tears which resemble truck nuts. Truck nuts are accessories that resemble a male scrotum, often attached to the back of a truck. The yellow-tan truck nuts contain detail that implies texture and weight. The truck nuts could insinuate masculinity in popular culture. Color, texture, symmetry, and value strengthen the artwork. The subject’s toes are curled up, which could mean her grounding is not stable. The artwork is balanced through repetition on each side of the white frame which does not distract from the piece. The women are holding the truck nuts upward in a subtle way to avoid their hands taking away from the mass amount of truck nuts.
When first viewing this symmetrical piece, I did not understand its imagery. I thought the woman was weighed down by stereotypes that minorities are not good enough to be models. However, a model minority is a person who is a stereotype of a minority. For example, all Asians are great at math. Essentially, it is a group of people who exceed a standard/stereotype. When I read the artist statement, Zhang expressed that women are always made to “pull ourselves up from [our] bootstraps.”[3] Being a woman myself, I sympathize with Zhang’s attempt to express feminism and colonialism.
Through the aesthetics, Zhang leaves room for the audience to interpret this piece. But, the title and artist statement emphasizes Asian stereotypes. Zhang calls attention to the phrase “model minority” to educate those who are ignorant to the phrase. Her ability to educate the viewer makes her art “good.” If one only looks at the aesthetics versus the underlying meaning, they will not appreciate the artwork. By using male counterparts to weigh down a woman, Zhang desires for the viewer to empathize with feminine struggles; Daily battles for gender equality within the work place, household, and politics is a modern-day challenge. Her artist statement mentions, “As an immigrant woman of color, we are constantly expected to labor complacently and silently…”[4] Although I am not Asian, I am a minority that consistently has to advocate against the stereotype of an angry, black, and broken woman. Therefore, this piece gives me a sense of relief to witness that someone else feels weighed down by stereotypes too.
Emily Carver created What She Saw When She Walked In with copper, enamel, caulk, nickel, silver, wood, and paint. This artwork is the closest to the ground, compared to the other displays. One has to bend over or squat down to see what is actually going in. The objects displayed are rubber tub stoppers. Carver wants the audience to witness “toolness” of “objects through questioning utilities or ideas of function/non-function.”[5]
By leaving interpretation open to the audience, she believes new relationships will be made. The artwork is near ground level with a pink pastel wooden border framed through the stand that separates it from the physical ground. The values between the 176 squares on the inside seem to range from purple to crème and then to pink-peach. Color, line, and value strengthen the composition. On top of the enamel that resembles a bathroom floor are bathroom tub stoppers with silver chains attached, spread in an angular manner.
The title made me think of a woman who just overdosed and drowned in the tub. However, someone came and found her on the floor as she tried to save herself and pulled the grey rubber stoppers out to revitalize her. The artwork makes me feel sad that I have to stoop down and save someone in my imagination. The artist achieved her intentions because I created a new relationship with the piece that I did not think was possible.
The exhibition is successful because the pieces address socio-political subject matter in an organized manner. The works discussed major themes in the history of contemporary art, modernism and feminism. Through these efforts of addressing problems within society in contemporary ways, this exhibition achieved its goal of requiring the viewers to seek a deeper meaning out of each artwork displayed. All of these artists are involved in the contemporary art movement which questions tradition and embraces interpretation. The technique of leaving the artwork open to interpretation make these artworks the strongest in the exhibition.
[1] Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery, “Text Panel,” Valdosta, GA (27 February 2019)
[2] Xia Zhang, “Text Panel,” Valdosta, GA (25 February 2019)
[3] Xia Zhang, “Text Panel,” Valdosta, GA (25 February 2019)
[4] Xia Zhang, “Text Panel,” Valdosta, GA (25 February 2019)
[5] Emily Carver, “Text Panel,” Valdosta, GA (25 February 2019)
Mirakal Jackson is a Senior Bachelor of Arts major at Valdosta State University. She has a minor in Entrepreneurship and Aerospace Studies. She will be graduating with all 3 of her degrees in May 2020. She hopes to become an art therapist, art teacher, or a freelance artist with her own business.