A view of My Favorite Things

THiNGS
on View November 21 2009-January 2, 2010
Eyelevel art 103 Spring gallery
103 spring street, Charleston South by-God Carolina
curated by Jonathan Brilliant
artists include

Sean Ahern- Charleston SC
Jonathan Brilliant Columbia SC
Jarod Charzewski- Charleston SC
Philip Estes- Charleston SC
Ashley Harwood- Charleston SC
Sarah Lowe- Oakland CA
Daniel Mcsweeney- Charleston SC
Michael Moran- Charleston SC
James Morgan- San Jose Ca
Michael Morrison- Charleston SC
Owen Premore- Portland Oregon
David Walen- Charleston SC
Sean Williams- Charleston SC

It was a tremendous honor and a huge learning curve to get to curate this show. Most of the hard work was done about six months ago when we nailed down a date when i would be free to install the show. This show was sort of like my off time between the berlin stop of the Have Sticks Will Travel World Tour and the beginning of the install at The McMaster Gallery at The University of South Carolina. The goal for this show was to use the space as a way to highlight a disparate but related arrangement of objects. I had envisioned being able to use the work of the other artists in concert with each other and the 103 spring gallery to create an overall sense of one cohesive installation. Throughout this process I think I learned that my approach and vision for curating, is to utilize other artists work to create a site responsive installation. I did have many limitations, not least of which was a non-existent budget for shipping, and my relentless installation and travel schedule for my personal work. None the less my west coast artists managed to come up with elegant solutions to this problem by creating work that was shippable in small packages but could take ownership of the space provided. I was equally surprised by the local artists, who when asked for specific types of work often times surpassed their previous work. In a couple cases I was completely unfamiliar with the artists work but their descriptions of what they were planning were enough to re-assure me that I would be able to create the installation I was imagining. The end result is that I’ve got a show which has a little weaving, a little welding, a little stacking, a little arranging, some found objects, a couple cubes, and a nice mix of work with the artist “hand” at the forefront and a lack of the artist “hand”(something i strive in my personal work as well). I had solicited cube or cube related work from 4 of the artists and was very happy to still see that vision carried through for the first passage of the show, then in the next section the show transitions into a still life/archaeological arrangement area. This flow was a response to the shear beauty of the 103 spring space. Inside the space is the facade of an 1830’s era house which the former car garage was built around. Opposite the facade is this amazing wall of many colors. This lived in post-industrial space with the ghost of a former home was already a tremendous work of art in it’s own right. I knew that any object I added to the space would immediately begin to dialog with this space. I hope the viewer has a chance to experience the show in the relative isolation that I was afforded as the curator/preparator/exhibition designer. It was a nice “break” from my work and still kept the part of my mind that is interested in shaping and engaging architectual spaces active. I am looking forward to my next challenge in Early December when i begin installing “Sticks, Straws, Sleeves and Lids” My new installation for the University of South Carolina which opens January 15th.