Cincinnati’s Manifest Gallery opens a number of exhibits at its Walnut Hills locale this week. “Tapped” is a unique annual exhibition exploring the relationship between art students current and past and their professors. This is the 7th exhibition featuring 16 artists from 9 states, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. Works on view will include paintings, drawings, prints and photographs.
The premise of the exhibition suggests that the relationship between students and their professors initiates a powerful chain-reaction process that develops across the lifetime of the developing student. The selected student-artists are exhibited side by side paired with a work representative of their professors’ to illustrate their teacher/student relationship.
Professor Neil Callander’s influence on the work of his student Thomas McBroom seems relatively direct in terms of subject matter: planetary and geological imagery. McBroom painting on cradled wood of a rock is executed as a multifaceted textural painted surface. Monolithic and impersonal in form, the painting’s surface and muted color palette are the only aspects that invite access.
Professor Adrian Hatfield’s landscape imagery with allusions to nostalgic color photos inspired student Allan Bennetts to produce blurred serial photographs that compare simplified abstraction of the landscape in multiple tonal exposures.
The variety discussed here is only a selection of all that the exhibit offers, encouraging viewers to compare and enjoy the pairings to consider the nature of influence.
“Texas” & “Minnesota”
This recent call to artists focuses on definable regions outside of Manifest’s mid-America backyard. As a digression from the East (New York) and West (California) showcases, the states of Texas and Minnesota anchor a compelling north/south polar relationship which provides a conversational starting point.
Both states are home to major international art centers and educational institutions which are involved in the global art scene. 8 works from 7 artists from Texas were selected for this exhibition.
The response from Minnesota includes 8 works from 6 artists.
This is a great opportunity to view fresh talent, trends and idiosyncrasies from other geographical areas. Both collections will be featured in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication (MEA) at the close of the season.
Marlene Steele teaches and paints in Cincinnati, Ohio
