Art-rage-ous. Think about it, said Jeff Rymer of the self-named gallery. When the Nashville CARES Middle Tennessee Aids support and education charity benefit was birthed 21 years ago, there was rage against the plight of the disease swiping precious lives. Now, it's more like Out-rage-ous Good Time while drinkin' Absolut and viewing Fine Art. And a grand, good time it was. It's the one time that this straight gal sees gays so outwardly celebrating in such great numbers within the mainstream of this city. Tasseled dragqueen flappers. Pinstriped fadora-ed gangstas. The theme at this year's was the Roaring 20's. It roared. And the art. The art's all still up there and out there for those who didn't catch the event's Van Gogh busses. And it's worth seeing. Some of my night's faves:
Samantha Richter's small gallery, also self-named and tucked in the back of Corzine and Co. in the old Grace's/Davis Kidd plaza, was an evening highlight. Dizzie. Billie... beautifully curated, captured 85-year-old Herman Leonard's iconic images of 40s and 50s jazz greats. Oh, the power of these black-and-white images, spewing emotion and depth via their bold subject matter and such artful use of the medium. Tears came to my eyes. And nowhere else that night did that happen. Leonard, donned in a sporty tweed jacket was there, cloaked by admirers. The master printer lost some 8,000 of his images in Katrina, luckily his spirit and much of his art survived.
German-born sculptor Victor Schmidt bore a beret, a painter's jacket, bedecked with brushes and an open and welcoming demeanor that charmed visitors to the relatively new Studio B. Sharing the bottom half of the 12th South Paris Building, the gallery features three artists -- the others, painters Moses Hawkins and Steven Miller -- hail from The Big Apple and weren't present, but through their art that night. The confluence of the three artists was nearly musical, each mimicking lines and forms of the others in their own unique medium.
Featured artist Edie Maney held court at Tennessee Art League with her canvases of soothing yet bold and daring abstract color. A new series on raw canvas were her proud creations birthed from the inspiration of the Frist Center for Visual Arts Color Field show earlier this year.
While his sculptures may be bold, Alan LeQuire was the master of calm and cool at his LeQuire gallery featuring the contrast of his bronze-cast figuratives with the smooth, seductive, oh-to-die for marble abstracts of Nashvillian turned Sante-Fe sculptor Randolph Somers. All shows from the night gave 10 percent of their proceeds to Nashville CARES, but an additional percentage of LeQuire sales went to Vanderbilt Medical University's acclaimed healing arts program, mastefully run by artist and arts champion Donna Glassford. Both Somers and LeQuire are sons of former Vanderbilt-based physicians. Both credit their father's love of the human body for their own fascination with human form, as evidenced in their artistic recreations.
Always a local favorite, The Arts Company show is a must-see and one I'll be returning to as the lights went down not long after we arrived. Not everyday Nashvillians get to behold an Ansel Adams. But in honor of the master, no less stunning is the black-and-white depiction of the great American West by Adams' former student and co-worker, Bob Kohlbrenner. Appalachian sweetheart turned Los Angeles talent, April Street again brought her fantastical, dreamy abstracts to the annual show, this year showing a darker, more intense color-scape caught on canvas. Also of note is up-and-coming political poster artist Jorge Arrieta. Entertaining. Thought provoking. A youngish artist of note on the rise. Watch this one.
Charity + great art + good time. We're fortunate, Nashville. Do you know that? Read more about the event's featured galleries in my City Paper article: http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=63932
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