A-List Exhibits: Contemporary Museum’s solo art shows thrust local emerging artists into the limelight by Cara Ober
The Contemporary Museum is packed this particular Friday evening: the young and bohemian smoke cigarettes out front, while the inside buzzes with animated conversations as people enjoy snacks and beer, cameras flash, and artists make faux kiss noises. The gathering has all the attributes of a really great art party. It is the first installment of Baltimore Liste, a brand-new series of ambitious, one-week solo shows by local emerging artists.
“We decided on the ‘Liste’ model from Berlin because it focuses on younger artists and galleries,” says Contemporary Museum Director Sue Spaid.
The Berliner Liste was established in 2004 and is reputed to be an innovative art fair emphasizing the discovery of young talent. The Baltimore version includes artist-run and DIY art spaces that exhibit emerging artists—those in the early stages of building a career and reputation, and have never had a solo show in a museum before.
To produce the Liste, seven of Baltimore’s “younger” galleries (Area 405, Open Space, Current Gallery, Gallery Four, Nudashank, Subbasement Gallery and Jordan Faye Contemporary) each nominated three artists. After conducting twenty-one studio visits at the end of April, Spaid chose twelve artists for solo exhibitions during the month of May. Selected artists agreed to exhibit work that had never been shown in Baltimore, and to alter their work to fit the space provided.
The first of the three Liste exhibits opened Friday, May 13, and featured Jordan Bernier, John Bohl, Stewart Watson, and Shaun Flynn. Each artist was assigned to a different gallery within the museum, and each installed their work according to the constraints of the space. For many of the participating artists and opening attendees, it was their first visit to the museum in a long time; many admitted that this was their first ever visit.
Compared to a gallery show, a museum exhibition brings added prestige and pressure. For Baltimore artists, this type of show is a rare opportunity for one’s work to be seen in a highly respected setting. Despite having just a few weeks to pull their ideas together, all four artists in the first Liste exhibit surpassed their own expectations and achieved a new level of success. One of the more ambitious offerings was Bernier’s Untitled Video Installation, which featured seventy different stop motion animations, made with cut paper, exhibited on twenty-three televisions stacked in a triangular shape. The dark back gallery emphasized the bright, changing patterns and the accompanying sound to create an intense and vibrant experience. “My hope was to create an installation that had a changing sense of harmony, melody, and rhythm, both audibly and visually,” says Bernier. To complete the work in time for the Liste, Bernier augmented the work-in-progress to fit in the space, consulted with sound artist Sal Farina, and received help from generous friends who donated TVs and DVD players.
Local painter Bohl also used the show as an opportunity to create something completely new. “One of the walls I installed on was twenty-five-feet tall, so I printed a pattern that almost filled the whole wall, incorporating forms I have used in paintings before,” says Bohl. “This was a totally new experience for me—I am glad that it pushed me to do something I had never done before. I had always wanted to design wallpaper and someday to install it in a gallery, but I had never done color printing before. It was not easy to produce, but the Contemporary Museum is a really awesome space and opportunity.”
“I’m very excited about this series of exhibits, and we hope the Baltimore Liste will become an annual tradition,” says Spaid. “We had 281 people attend the first opening and I feel really good about that. For many, it was their first time attending an opening at the Contemporary Museum—especially the younger crowd. I hope that the new visitors continue to support our programming and continue to come to our events. The Contemporary Museum would like more local artists and members of the local arts community to visit their exhibits.” The second Liste exhibit opened May 20 and the third will open May 27.
David Page is one of the artists exhibiting in the second installment of the Liste. “More so than exhibiting in the show, I was thrilled by the spirit of outreach in the Liste,” says Page. “In the past, the Contemporary Museum has not typically reached out to the local art community.” He is hoping that momentum remains high for all three Liste exhibits. “A week format is great if we can sustain the excitement for all three weeks and people come out for all the openings,” he says.
If current support bears any indication, Baltimore Liste appears to be a series of invigorating and not-to-be-missed exhibits. “The people in the first round really pushed themselves and invested in the project,” says Bohl. “Everyone used the space to take concepts they’ve played with before, and realize them at a greater scale. It’s great to have to step things up. It’s like a shot of adrenaline.”
Baltimore Liste Exhibits run May 11-15, May 18-22, and May 25-29, with opening receptions May 13, May 20, and May 27, from 7 p.m.-10 p.m. For more information, go to www.contemporary.org.
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