Voyeurism was encouraged Saturday night at the CEPA Art Gallery on Main Street in Buffalo. It was just one of the art displays that are part of the region's largest collaborative art exhibition, the "Beyond/In Western New York" biennial exhibition.
The exhibit premiered Friday night at the UB Art Gallery in Amherst, the UB Anderson Gallery in Buffalo and the Carnegie Art Center in North Tonawanda. The exhibit is scheduled to open at 13 different places throughout Western New York staggered over three consecutive weekends in April.
"We have a wide variety of art here today," said Lawrence Brose, executive director of the CEPA Gallery. "This video here by John Knechy is like a rage against society."
CEPA Gallery is hosting seven of the artist's exhibits. Caroline Koebel's exhibit is entitled "I Want to Have Your Baby." It is an ongoing project with over 200 video performances from people across the world telling whose baby they would want to have.
One woman wanted to have George Bush Sr.'s baby so she could straighten out George Bush Jr. Some were very humorous and abstract. Another person wanted to have the baby of a fruit bat because she thought they are very intelligent and cute creatures. Each participant was to conceive a hypothetical baby that would make the world a better place.
One room was totally devoted to the life-size self-portrait of Marie De Sousa. She calls it "This Is It. I Hope I Have Enough Information." The portrait was done in vibrant colors and in a very natural realistic style. It stood on its own in the room and needed no accompaniment.
Toni Hafkenscheid displayed photographs with a narrow band of focus and an unusual high-gloss finish. They are aesthetically stunning. Everything is out of focus except a small portion of the picture, and the focal point is not always what one would expect. They included a surreal photo of a train winding through the mountains and children on a raft in the wilderness. The viewer was drawn into the photo by the crisp focal point.
One of the most interesting exhibits was the one on voyeurism. There were five peepholes located throughout the gallery. Some were very low to the ground so that the viewer had to get down on all fours to peer through the hole. Others required climbing on ladders or standing on crates to participate. Courtney Grimm was responsible for these five video installations, entitled "En Passan Series" and this exhibit.
"She is also collecting the footprints that you leave when you look through the holes." said Sean Donaher, Artistic Director. "A special floor was put down before everyone came."
Deep in the basement was an exhibit titled "When Ready to Use Again Soak in Buttermilk," by Adriane Little. It consisted of hundreds of milk bottles arranged throughout a black room with 5 videos playing simultaneously. The video of a farmwoman dunking a child's clothing in buttermilk was haunting, somehow.
Curatorial teams from participating local arts organizations received more than 700 submissions and 14,000 slides. They then visited 86 artists' studios during three elimination rounds. Discussion to determine the final selection resulted in the 58 artists represented and the venue for each artist's work.
CEPA's exhibit was a great representation of local talent. There was a diverse collection of media and the works cover a wide spectrum of art practices. Over 100 visitors came for the opening, both young and old. Refreshments were served, people moved from room to room, floor-to-floor, discovering each new artist in the journey.
