BOSTON-ISM by BIG RED BOSTON-ISM by Big Red and the Boston Community

THE -ISMS WON'T HELP US NOW: BOSTON'S ART COMMUNITY TAKES PART IN THE DISCUSSION
by HEIDI MARSTON

One of the reasons we have so many "-isms" to talk about artwork is because 9 times out of 10 we are trying to give enough information to someone or a group of people so that they can have some kind of tangible experience. When I think about going to galleries in Boston I don't usually find myself with a lack of vocabulary to describe what I see or a way to experience it. However, there are many artists and galleries that challenge the notion the art can be described enough to give someone the impression that they have experienced it themselves. Recently at the Gallery @ Green Street the local artist and ICA Prize winner Douglas Weathersby "exhibited" his Cleaning Projects: an ongoing exploration of site-specific installations that are the result of everyday rituals like cleaning and home repair.

Now from this description alone, one may find it hard to have an idea of what it could be. I would describe it as one part performance, one part installation, one part cleaning and the result is a visual cornucopia of "stuff" that looks like sculptural, photographic, documentation-like interior remodeling. Most of Weathersby's work--not unlike the cleaning he performs--is extremely impermanent, living on only as long as the optimal conditions allow or until the dust is swept up or disturbed. Because of its ephemeral nature, many of his works are documented and mediated through a variety of photographic and digital means. His exhibition at the ICA included a combination of video and live-feed images of works that Weathersby created in the museum workrooms in addition to a dust drawing created in the gallery space. One of the things that I really like about Weatherby's work is that when you walk by the space where he is working and you aren't sure if you should interrupt him but curiosity can get the better of you. It can invite a type of discussion that would be hard to have about a series of paintings hung in a row, simply by the nature of working with an everyday activity like sweeping. At his gallery talk many of the questions were about the response people have had or what people asked him when they came in, that alone is unusual since most gallery talks are about an artists method to working with their medium or what artists inspire them. The dialogue around Weathersby's work incorporated the usual 'hows' and 'whys' but it also included 'what did other people think'.

The Gallery @ Green Street, in its 6 years in Boston, has shown work that blurs the boundaries between mediums, forces its audience to engage with the art community in new and interesting ways and allows gallery goers to have fun at the same time. By showing work like Weathersby's Cleaning Projects and other performance, photographic, installation type work like the 1/2 Asian Portrait Studio, (where people in the community came and had their portrait taken then the portraits were hung in the wall continually throughout the duration of the show), the elitism of the art in Boston has become obsolete. More people are coming to galleries like Gallery @ Green Street and the Thayer Street galleries than ever before, why? Maybe it is because work like Weathersby's is allowing the community to take part in the dialogue around new work instead of the discussion going on without audience participation. On a very positive note it seems that the existing structure of the art community in Boston has enough elasticity to expand and incorporate the work of artists like Douglas Weathersby, thanks to Gallery @ Green Street, the ICA, others like Allston Skirt, Samson Projects, the Mills Gallery, while still encouraging more to come.

For the other response articles:
http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/frameset.pl?&issue=issue17§ion=article&article=RED_ISM_SCHISM_021127
http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/frameset.pl?&issue=issue17§ion=article&article=RED_ISM_SCHISM_021127
http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/frameset.pl?&issue=issue17§ion=article&article=RED_ISM_SCHISM_021127
http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/frameset.pl?&issue=issue17§ion=article&article=RED_ISM_SCHISM_021127
http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/frameset.pl?&issue=issue17§ion=article&article=RED_ISM_SCHISM_021127