Institute 193 and Land of Tomorrow are announcing a multi-venue collaborative show featuring works by the late Charles Williams. The show entitled Silo #3 will feature sculpture, comics, photos, collage and installation works. LOT will feature large scale works and pieces from Charlie’s yard while the Institute will focus on small-scale works and archival materials. Williams, a native of Blue Diamond, Kentucky, spent most of his life living and working in Lexington. This is is the first comprehensive solo-exhibition of William’s work. His work was featured in a major survey of African-American Vernacular Art, Soul’s Grown Deep, at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in 1996 as part of the cultural olympiad. The show and accompanying catalog featured a large number of complex sculptures by Williams.
Institute 193 and LOT will be publishing a book entitled Charlie’s Photo Album that will feature selections from the vast collection of photos that Williams took during his life. A large portion of this material is kept by the Kentucky Folk Art Center. Stay tuned. The show is scheduled to open on October 7, 2010.
Eleven Mega Churches, Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Fortyone Walmart Supercenters, Every Church in Fayette County and finally – Residential Facades. Travis Shaffer, a recent MFA graduate from the University of Kentucky, has spent the past two years documenting various aspects of America’s less-than-enthralling architectural landscape and development through his steady production of photographs, books and portfolios. His most recent project, Residental Facades, visually recalls the austere photographs of Bernd and Hilla Becher, but is distinctly local in its treatment of Southern suburban architecture and the unnerving anomaly of street-oriented residential facades without doors or windows.
In anticipation of the World Equestrian Games, Lexington has entered a period of breakneck development and infrastructural improvements that will have long-lasting effects on our community. Shaffer’s work paints a sobering picture of unchecked development but is able to disguise its social and conceptual critiques in symmetry, line and form.
-Phillip March Jones, Creative Director
TRAVIS SHAFFER
RESIDENTIAL FACADES
OPENING RECEPTION: 12 AUGUST 2010
6 – 9 PM
Institute 193 invited Ara, Ascent of Everest and Slowest Runner to perform on July 23 as part of the on-going North of Center Music Series. We are posting pictures from the show below and links to the band’s web pages. Make sure to stay tuned for announcements about upcoming live shows at 193.
SMOKERS AND LINGERERS BETWEEN SETS
ARA
ASCENT OF EVEREST
THE SLOWEST RUNNER IN ALL THE WORLD
Institute 193 is announcing a public collaboration with Carly Goes To Space and Guy Mendes to publish 40/40 – Forty Years, Forty Portraits. The book – still in its preliminary design stage – will feature portraits taken by Mendes over the last forty years and passages written by Mendes explaining his relationship to the various characters. Among the photographed are: Ashley Judd, Wendell Berry, Ben Sollee, Lil’ Enis, Sister Gertrude Morgan, etc… The book is scheduled to be released late this fall. Stay tuned for more details. The project will be primarily funded through KICKSTARTER, and we will be sending out updates periodically. We are posting working images of the book’s cover and layout. Let us know what you think.
The book will be accompanied by an exhibition at Institute 193 produced in conjunction with the Ann Tower Gallery.
Institute 193 is pleased to announce a series of collaborative performances with Robert Beatty from August 5 – August 9 at 9 PM. Beatty will be inviting various musicians to perform with him for one hour every night at 9 PM beginning August 5.
Robert Beatty (born 1981, Lexington, KY) is an artist and electronic musician who performs under the name Three Legged Race. He is a long running member of Hair Police, Eyes and Arms of Smo…ke, and C. Spencer Yeh’s Burning Star Core. Since 2004 Beatty has maintained a collaborative relationship with artist Takeshi Murata, creating soundtracks for Murata’s videos. Their collaboration has spawned performances by Three Legged Race at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Stray Alchemists,2007, Beijing), Deitch Projects (Heavy Light, 2008, New York), the Mattress Factory (Heavy Light, 2008, Pittsburgh), the New Museum (No Fun: Infinite Sound and Image, 2009, New York), and The Gene Siskel Film Center at the Art Institute of Chicago (Conversations at the Edge, 2010, Chicago).
Beatty’s constantly evolving aesthetic is realized via an elaborate network of primitive electronics and outmoded thrift store detritus. Each performance and recording explores the repetition and decay of simple musical themes, discovering a new world of rhythmic and harmonic possibilities with each tier of abstraction, evoking minimalist sci-fi soundtracks, clouded hypnotic landscapes, and primal industrial techno.
To RSVP for the event, please see our FACEBOOK INVITE.
Studio Visit with J.T. Dockery
by Chase Martin
When I meet J.T. Dockery, he’s sitting in a coffee shop, wearing thick-framed glasses and a battered fedora, scribbling in a notebook as a barista fires up the blender. “I used to keep my own studio,” he chuckles over the noise, “but there’ve been some domestic troubles on the home front, lately.” So, since around last October, he’s been filling his sketchbooks in coffee shops–usually Third Street Stuff. “Luckily, most of my drawings are 11 x 14 or smaller, so they’re pretty portable,” Dockery explains, gesturing towards a crammed shoulder bag slumped against his chair. Unlike artists working in more restrictive mediums, he can take his studio just about anywhere.
Dockery creates surreal, intricately detailed works of ink on paper, often combined with text rendered in jittery lettering. Many of these illustrations are designed to work together like a graphic novel, but the stories he’s telling are rarely straightforward. “I work in narrative, but for me, the writer part of my brain and the visual part of my brain are always working together, even if it’s not a sequential story,” he says. A plot about a tough gumshoe detective may veer suddenly into a series of panels about oozing space creatures invading from above. Though the story lines in his art are often as labyrinthine as his crosshatching, they are consistently compelling.
Influenced by the hard-boiled characters of film noir, underground comics of the 1960s and ‘70s, and gritty photographers such as Weegee, one page of Dockery’s work may startle you with its stark beauty–another may make you wonder what prescriptions he’s taking. “Absurdity and surrealism just kind of come out of me,” he remarks. Dockery’s instantly recognizable style makes use of bizarre, erotic, sometimes repulsive imagery paired with text that can in turn be funny, philosophical, or frightening.
Many images that start out in his sketchbooks find their way into his finished work. “I definitely refer back to them. They’re a way to keep drawing: ideas come out that take different forms later on.” With his Rapidograph pen, he points to a finished drawing of a stylized heart holding a gun. “This came from a sketchbook I filled about 3 years ago. I opened it one day, and there was this subversively cute cartoon heart there, holding a gun, waiting for me.” His current notebook contains abstract compositions, an eerie portrait of a man’s face, and a detailed replica of a Master of Kung Fu comic book cover he loved in his childhood.
Dockery grew up in Jackson County, Kentucky, where he developed a love for comic books and began drawing at an early age. When he was around 20, he stopped drawing temporarily when he discovered he was developing arthritis. “The pain really bothered me at that age,” he recalls, “but when I started drawing again it really helped me get through a tough time.” He eventually attended UK and Morehead University, and at first wanted to pursue a career in academia before finally deciding to devote himself to artistic efforts, intrigued by the union of narrative and visual imagery. “At some point, hopefully I can make some money off my art, but that’s not the main concern right now.”
Currently, Dockery makes ends meet by working at the downtown restaurant Gumbo Ya Ya’s, which leaves him with time and energy to pursue his passion. And he has been busy. In 2008, he finished an oversized, fifty-page graphic novel, In Tongues Illustrated, a tour-de-force of hallucinatory illustration and interwoven narrative. He is also collaborating on a project titled Creekwater with a friend from his band, The Smacks!, that’s being serialized in the newspaper North of Center. “It’s very old school to have a story that’s developing from week to week, literally like chapters in a book. It’s been challenging, but fun.” He is also working on some drawings for a book that will be printed by Larkspur Press, and is slowly chipping away at The Organ Grinder, a new graphic novel of his own.
To take a peek into Dockery’s sketchbooks, check out his blog, Covertly And By Snatches. Click HERE to see his current works in progress.
FOALS OF HOPE: UK Arts in Healthcare
July 8, 2010 – July 15, 2010
Opening Reception: July 8 | 6 – 9 PM
Institute 193 and UK Arts in Healthcare are pleased to present Foals of Hope, a collaborative exhibition featuring horses designed by Latitude Artist Community, Kreative Catz and the UK Art Education Department. LexArts and Horsemania 2010 graciously donated three reclining foals to benefit the Kentucky Children’s Hospital. The foals were given to various groups in Lexington who have used them to express their vision of hope for the future. The foals will be auctioned at Horsemania 2010 with all proceeds benefitting the UK Children’s Hospital. The foals will be on display at Institute 193 from July 8 – 15. For more information about UK Arts in Healthcare, please see: www.ukhealthcare.uky.edu.
Latitude Artist Community is geared towards helping people with disabilities. The community uses art to give people living with disabilities a means of expression and direction that raises their quality of life.
Kreative Catz is a volunteer group of UK fine art students who work directly with Kentucky Children’s Hospital patients on creative projects as part of the Child Life Program.
We are posting pictures of the foals “in progress” on our blog. Call it a sneak peek.
Latitude Artist Community Foal Snapshot
Latitude Artist Community Foal Snapshot
KreativeKatz at work
Johnny Shipley’s Sandwich Shop opened on June 14 at Institute 193. Shipley agreed to make Banh Mi sandwiches everyday from 12 – 2 for one week as a fundraiser for the Institute. We looked at his offer as an opportunity to highlight the “art of the sandwich” in addition to raising money and bringing a new crowd into the space. For those of you who have never tasted a Banh Mi sandwich – The sandwich is made up of thinly sliced pickled carrots and daikon (do chua), cucumbers, cilantro, chili peppers, pâté, mayonnaise and various meat fillings or tofu. Popular bánh mì fillings include roasted or grilled pork, Vietnamese sausage, chicken, head cheese and ham.
Bánh mì is generally served in small shops and at some phở noodle eateries. Bánh mì shops can be found in many countries, especially in areas with a Vietnamese immigrant community. The contrasting flavors and textures of the sandwich — as well as its relatively low cost — make it a popular dish. In America, Bánh mì is sometimes referred to as a “Saigon Sub”, a “Vietnamese Sub,” a “Vietnamese Po’ boy” (in the New Orleans area), a “Vietnamese Hoagie” (in Philadelphia) or a “Vietnamese Sandwich”.
The bánh mì sandwich stems from the French countryside “salad sandwich” which consists of lettuces, tomatoes and sometimes vegetables as well as dressing served on a baguette. The sandwich is a product of French colonialism in Indochina, combining ingredients from the French (baguettes, pâté and mayonnaise) with native Vietnamese ingredients like cilantro, hot peppers, fish sauce and pickled carrots.
