[Editor's note: We invited multiple writers to contribute their
observations about the current exhibition 'Kingdom of Nature' by Aaron Morse at the Country Club gallery. Karen Chambers and
A.C. Frabetti review Morse's work, while Jane Durrell discusses its relationship to the contemporaneous exhibition of Katie Parker's and Guy Michael Davis' 'License To Illuminate.' We also
provide a link to Matt Morris' review for CityBeat.]
Jane Durrell
The kingdom of nature Aaron Morse shows us can barely be contained. His teeming, hustling subject matter is on the verge of escape, its life force is so strong. It's not much of a stretch to think some of it has escaped, into the next gallery, where 'License to Illuminate' takes over any flat surface and some vertical ones. The two shows, in vastly different mediums, share a witty sensibility and a perceptive outlook.
Morse takes on large subjects (Conquest of Mexico (2008), Deluge (2009), Christ Entering Coachella(2007)), sometimes playing fast and loose with actual facts but never with underlying meaning. His paintings and works on paper have a formal beauty that contrasts with possibly raffish, often disturbing subject matter. In Morse's 'Kingdom of Nature' people are a potent part of the mix.
[Full article] [PDF]
A welcome addition to the area's exhibition venues is The BLDG (The Building) in Covington. Founded by Mike Amann and Roman Titus, The BLDG in Covington is an alternative space in the 'grand' tradition with its exposed brick walls, peeling paint, uneven plywood floor, and a receptionist desk made out of wood pallets. The storefront space has an ambitious and earnest manifesto: it “is a place, a process, a collaboration, creating and exhibiting diverse, provocative art that challenges patrons to thought and introspection.” It also “challenges patrons and artisans (an interesting choice of words, more associated with the crafts than fine art) to embrace 'New Brow,' an Art Movement generally associated with offshore and coastal markets. This movement is art of and for all people, without barrier, frequently birthed in the blighted and forgotten monuments of our cities.”
The inaugural exhibition at The BLDG is 'shot at from both sides,' work by Prefab77, a trio of artists from Newcastle in the north of England.
[Full article] [PDF]
Pent-up Art
This is the second in a series of three interviews to be offered in a three-month period exploring the challenges of a trio of Cincinnati artists in various transitions in their careers.
by Jerry Stein
All around his third floor studio in the Pendleton Art Center, Over-the-Rhine, Charles Emery Ross's color-splashed abstract paintings and contemporary landscapes seem threatened to keep themselves off the walls.
The energy in these paintings should come as no surprise. Ross, with the exception of some dabbling here and there as a “ Sunday painter,” kept his easel waiting for 30 years.
Ross, 71, had two careers. A holder of a certificate from the old Central Academy of Commercial Art in Walnut Hills, he had a successful 20-year career in Cincinnati advertising in which he entered as a graphic designer.
After exiting the ad world, Ross spent ten more years in real estate where he renovated and flipped properties for considerable profit.
[Full article] [PDF]
Aaron Morse at the Country Club: 
