Metro Pulse/Artbeat/A1LabArts

Where:
The Candy Factory, KMA Art Studios (street level), World's Fair Park Drive

When:
Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m.-3 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday; through April 11 (with an interactive Chakra Project presentation on April 4, and a closing reception - performance to be announced - on April 11. Both are on Friday evenings from 6-8 p.m.) Free.

A1LabArts' Annual Spring Exhibition Is Once Again with Us

by Heather Joyner

With springtime comes the annual roving A1LabArts exhibition, and as usual, this year's event has much to offer. For people not familiar with A1, it's a nonprofit educational organization (in existence for almost a decade) "dedicated to multi-disciplinary and experimental exploration of contemporary art issues in all media" with an "intention to develop the community's appreciation for interdisciplinary and new art forms." Formal as that sounds, A1 is anything but.

The diversity that A1 member artists represent is evident in names connected with the current "Wide Open" show: Bocknek, Brown, Esrequis, Furtado, Gebo, Gundlach, Hess, Moesch, Neely, Vaslow, and Yazdi, for instance. But it's a diversity that goes deeper than names. A1 includes student, amateur, and professional artists alike, and in doing so, implies that the creative process is as vital as its results. Through providing a range of individuals with venues for sharing work in a variety of forms, A1 encourages community dialogue. Without A1, living in Knoxville would be a lot less interesting.

As for the current show (curated by Alan Finch), there are some challenging pieces on view. Lesser efforts feel self-conscious—as if they're trying too hard to provoke or be "different"—whereas art that best reflects A1's spirit does not take itself so seriously. It's accomplished, yet in tune with the spontaneity A1 strives to maintain. Part of that spontaneity is happenstance; many exhibitions are either mounted on short notice or so inclusive (in terms of the number of participants) that they buzz with an almost palpable energy.

Of the more daring pieces in "Wide Open," those by Dr. Ali Akhbar, Kay Palmateer, and Denise Stewart-Sanabria are especially worthy of mention. The title of Akhbar's mixed media construction "Drive By" speaks of shooting, and the work deals with urban tragedy in the form of visual tesserae. Its overall shape looks like a large mirror frame or kind of altarpiece painted black. Studded with red automotive lights, it assumes an eerie presence when turned on, a mood heightened by attached bullets and bird wings. A horizontally placed doll leg above a purple satin panel mimics the shape of a towel rod beneath. Given an upside-down slice of watermelon in the form of a sign that reads "ice cold...5�," not to mention images of African Americans, it cannot be read as anything but a statement on race-related issues. A tiny toy piano flanked by seated Egyptian statuary is positioned above the ironic skeleton of a toy gun. Violence as child's play herein meets very real violence, and the message is chilling. As clear as the message of "Drive By" is, there's room for interpretation...it's quite an achievement.

Another mixed media assemblage, Palmateer's "But I Don't Have Enough Tears For The Whole World" (alluding to September 11), is equally striking. Diaphanous material and handkerchiefs—again, a reference to tears—are suspended from five clothesline-like wires, framing a painting on twenty small squares. Its ocean scene, an image with a single static wave resembling a sort of wall of water, feels desolate. On a shelf beneath the painting are four eggs and a plaster cast Humpty Dumpty figurine—all the king's horses and all the king's men?—perhaps suggesting powerlessness within the cycle of life. Personally, I could do without the gilded lily effect of the shelf and its contents. But like Akhbar, Palmateer has managed to pack a lot of punch into a single construct.

Stewart-Sanabria's "She Won The Big One" is a standing cut-out of a beauty queen, plywood propped up by an intersecting piece of wood in the shape of a penis. The big one, indeed. Painted in a cartoon-like style, the erect figure—pun intended—and its companion image on the wall (of runner-up beauties with long gloves and Evita arm gestures) are nothing new in terms of social commentary, but "She Won The Big One" is memorable.

The S.W.A.T. Team—AKA Cathy Freeman and Birney Hand—presents a toilet installation titled "Potty Mouth" (with a hot pink tongue protruding from a face in the bowl). Alongside Dawn Kunkel's wreath-like piece adorned with iridescent purple brains, Anita Finch's "The Snow On Which He Found Himself" (a photograph of a naked man, his life seemingly snuffed out by Winter), and Lee Jines' funky teenager with a wormy wood arm, "Potty Mouth" counters work addressing subject matter like war and religion.

Speaking of which, religious elements are incorporated into much of the art comprising "Wide Open." Mary Nietling's "Santos" board features numerous small-scale collages including Christ, the Virgin Mary, and clergy folk, with Frida Kahlo thrown in for good measure. Resembling a smattering of colorful candies, it smacks of temptation and promised redemption. Diana Hall's "Over-The-Oven Altar," with its domestic labels, picture of Saint Francis, and ornamental Japanese paper, is a visual lump of sugar. Dick Penner's surreal pinhole camera image titled "Madone Et Fille" is an example of image triumphing over a rather involved process.

"Wide Open" presents other pieces deserving of attention that I haven't space to include...such is generally the case with A1 exhibition reviews (considering the shows' breadth of material). However, exploration without a guide can be exhilarating. Go for it.