Artwork by Meg Spielman Peldo

2 Incredible Exhibits, 1 Edible Installation, No Waiting

By Millie Hanson
Visual Arts Editor

Two noteworthy shows plus a temporary, edible art installation open at the Plains Art Museum on Thursday, June 23 at 5:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.

The first is Big Country: FMVA Scale the Plains, an exhibit in which all the pieces play off the massive scale of the Great Plains, both in scope of size and the ideas being shown. This show is up until September 4, 2011.

The second is the Vogel’s Gift Exhibition, a fraction of the art collected by a married, blue collar couple in New York City who amassed almost 5,000 pieces of art over their lifetimes. North Dakota, as well as every other state in the union, received 50 pieces each. Yes, you read that right—each state. And that’s only about half of their collection. This show is up until August 14, 2011.

And if that isn’t enough motivation to attend two openings in one place, there will also be an edible dessert art installation for the opening only that – wait for it – will be hanging from the ceiling of the third floor and shifts and tips like a scale when it’s consumed.

Big Country: FMVA Scale the Plains was inspired by James Rosenquist’s The North Dakota Mural, unveiled in the Plains Art Museum last fall. It is an astounding 13’ x 24’ and makes one stop abruptly to take in this oversized piece that shows, in the artist’s own words:

“The landscape in North Dakota is the sky—the stars at night, the clouds in the daytime. At night I thought about the stars and light-years and the speed of light and everything that was sort of inexplicable.”

The size of an artwork imparts a sense importance if it’s unexpectedly large, from Michealangelo to Courbet to Claes Oldenburg to Audrey Flack. It gives one pause to appreciate the amount of time that The North Dakota Mural took, and makes the viewer try to figure out the reason so much canvas and paint were used (perhaps the enormity of a concept being expressed?), and if it was a worth all the time and effort for the message that’s being communicated. Another consideration is if Rosenquist or any of the artists in the Big Country show were up to the task of making a large piece that is as technically superb as their smaller works.

The offerings include sculpture, painting, photography, pastel and watercolor, among other things such as Jon Offutt’s big picnic table – the biggest piece in the show. It’s exactly double the scale of a regular picnic table and the benches for the table are at the tabletop height on a regular picnic table. The unpainted surface has been left in it’s pristine condition and recalls a deliberate increase of scale to show previously overlooked details.

What comes to mind are O’Keefe’s massive flowers or Oldenburg’s Spoon Bridge, a fountain in Minneapolis’ Sculpture Garden. As for Offutt’s table, it evokes childhood memories of sitting at the picnic table, swinging your feet without touching the ground and the sense of enthusiasm and pleasure in summer, in picnics, in family and in being free from school for three glorious months.

Eric Syvertson, the current FMVA board chairman, has three 8-foot paintings in the show as well. This triptych, with a limited, complimentary color palette of blues and oranges, explores the unwitting sacrifice of self through a relationship’s absorption of the individual into a new entity of union with another. The satisfying feeling (for some people) of spending time alone and the feeling brought on by knowing that no one else is in the house imparts a feeling of self-directed certainty that just can’t be faked or equivocated.

When asked about any concerns about working at a much larger size than usual, Syvertson cited the greater difficulty in selling larger works of art but saying that having a reason, like an exhibition, to work larger was freeing.

“For me, It was kind of intimidating (at first) because I’d never worked in that scale before. It was kind of nice to have something that pushes you, and was a great excuse to try working big.”

He likes that themed shows push the artist to places that they might not have normally explored, and that constraints can actually be freeing. Limits open up possibilities in a way that too many options can paralyze an artist because there are too many options.

Size can also mean quantity, as shown in The Herbert and Dorothy Vogel Gift exhibition. This has a different theme, one of passionate, adventurous Modern and Post Modern art buyers. They collected Conceptual and Minimalist Art from the 1970s through the 1990s. This was possible because of their common professions as civil servants (he a postal clerk, she a librarian) and their love for art, albeit for different styles. They dedicated his entire salary solely to owning artwork created by some of the most influential and famous artists of that time: Warhol, Schnabal, and Cristo to name but a few. The Plains Art Museum has 24 of them represented with the show’s 50 works.

On their honeymoon, the newlyweds went to the National Gallery of Art and Herb started teaching Dorothy about different artistic movements while perusing the exhibits. Herb was a continuing student of a wide range of art and when she saw him painting, she started taking art classes as well. They began their married life and their love of collecting art by starting with their own, taping it up on the walls at home.

Their passion is likened to the passion that artists have for art. She preferred more “hard edged” art while he liked the work of the Impressionists. There is much, much more to know about these two, so make time to come back later and watch the DVD, which plays in the gallery. It is also available for sale at the Museum gift shop.

Their entire collection can be viewed on the 50x50.com website at http://vogel5050.org. The sampling that can be viewed here in the museum is an example of the unparalleled breadth of their dual collection as far as quality and comprehensiveness. It’s a one of a kind phenomenon and should not be missed.

Dessert comes last, traditionally. Or sometimes first, depending on time and desire. Stevie ‘Wild Card’ ‘Kill it with Fire’ ‘Firecracker’ Famulari has created another food art installation. This one shifts, tips and moves as people eat the dessert.

Part of the hedonistic rush of eating dessert lies in the the strong sensory input of textures and flavors but also in its temporary nature – if it’s good, it won’t last. Such is Famulari’s installation. It will be constructed the day of the opening and be around just long enough to be consumed.

The installation is hung from the ceiling beams, and balances evenly with temptingly sweet treats. As guests eat the desserts, the piece moves, rotates, and tips up and down. If all the guests choose to eat from one side of the piece only, the plates of food can drop as far down at the guest’s lower legs.

Famulari was inspired by the awareness that there is an action and reaction, or consequences to one’s choices and this edible installation physically responds to the choices of desserts people choose to eat.

For more information on the Big Country show, go to http://qr.net/big_country.

For more information on the Vogel’s Gift show, check out the PAM’s website at http://qr.net/vogel.

For more information on Stevie Famulari, check out her website at http://www.steviefamulari.net/.

The DVD Herb & Dorothy: You don’t have to be a Rockefeller to collect art is on sale in the museum gift shop.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

IF YOU GO:
What: Big Country: FMVA Scale the Plains runs through Sept. 4, 2011. The Herbert and Dorothy Vogel Gift runs through August 14, 2011.
When: The opening is from 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. On Thursday, June 23, 2011. Regular museum hours are Tues/Wed/Fri 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., Thurs 11 a.m. – 8 p.m., Sat 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sun 1 – 5 p.m. The museum gift shop hours vary slightly. Please see their website at http://plainsart.org.
Where: The Plains Art Museum is located at 704 First Avenue North in Fargo.
Cost: Admission rates are adults ($5), seniors and educators with I.D. ($4), students with I.D. and youth (free).

Please call 701.232.3821 for more information.