Red Current (sweet fruit) at Roq La Rue
Red Current (sweet fruit) is an art show curated by Seattle artist/art instigator Sharon Arnold which includes the work of 37 Northwest artists (including myself), all of whom happen to be female. This is not, however, a fact overtly touted by the exhibition’s cryptic press release, which simply consists of a dictionary entry for CURRENT:
CURRENT
cur·rent ( /ˈkərənt/ )adj.
1.
a. Belonging to the present time: current events; current leaders.
b. Being in progress now: current negotiations.
2. Passing from one to another; circulating: current bills and coins.
3. Prevalent, especially at the present time: current fashions. See Synonyms at prevailing.
4. Running; flowing.
n.
1. A steady, smooth onward movement: a current of air from a fan; a current of spoken words. See Synonyms at flow.
2. The part of a body of liquid or gas that has a continuous onward movement: rowed out into the river’s swift current.
3. A general tendency, movement, or course. See Synonyms at tendency.
4. Symbol i, I Electricity
a. A flow of electric charge.
b. The amount of electric charge flowing past a specified circuit point per unit time.
Amanda Mantiach, "Interior Decoration (second empire)." Graphite, color pencil on paper.
Interesting aside: I contributed an essay to Sharon’s art subscription box set series LxWxH back in September that was called The Current, which begins like so:
Being is as it always has been and always will be: happening. This is the Current.
The Current has no qualities of its own. Rather it takes on the qualities of all that influences anything that happens. This is the modulation of the Current.
The Current is outside human control. (Indeed, it is the Current that gives rise to human consciousness and all its attendant illusions, including that of control.)
However, from a human perspective, intention and behavior may be observed to modulate the Current in dramatic ways. Through intention and behavior, the Current may appear to take the form of artistic masterpieces, mass murders, etc. This is the whole of human history.
The Current wants nothing. However, the Current in the form of human consciousness wants survival, comfort, beauty and a whole host of other tangibles and intangibles, only a few of which it understands.
In seeking to gratify these desires, the human consciousness modulates the Current.
In seeking to eliminate these desires, the human consciousness modulates the Current.
In seeking to observe the Current, the human consciousness modulates the Current
[and thus itself]. ….
The process of writing this essay bled over and inspired some song lyrics, and this month my band Midday Veil is putting the finishing touches on our second studio album which happens to be called The Current.
This is not to say that I think I’m responsible for naming the exhibition. The title is apt, considering how many of the artists involved are concerned with ideas that involve the transfer of energy from one place to another, and the resultant embodiment of forms that occurs. But it is fascinating, especially considering the implications of the current, that so many of us are, uh, currently on the same page.
Left: Gala Bent. Right: Julie Alpert. Photos by Jen Graves.
My interest in The Current as a concept/model for artistic practice was first delineated in an essay for Matthew Offenbacher’s La Especial Norte/Northern Special published in early 2009 titled “Fleeting Moments in an Infinite Flux: Artists and Other Windows on Eternity.” In this essay, I seek to correlate the process of generating photographic images of electrical sparks with the notion of cultivating a creative practice that seeks not to impose content but rather faithfully channel and record what is always already there.
Having not yet seen the bulk of the work that comprises Red Current (sweet fruit), at this point I may only speculate as to the forms this particular current might delineate. (The shapeshifting dance of life? Menstrual fluid? Why not!) The exhibition opens today at 6 pm at Roq La Rue Gallery in Belltown. Seeing how it’s basically a ginormous Who’s-Who of female artists currently working in Seattle, I’m anticipating a hell of a party. See you tonight!
translinguistic other 