Metro Pulse/Artbeat/First Friday

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What:
First Friday

Where:
Downtown's Market Square and environs

When:
Openings and events Oct. 3

Illustrious Ladies enliven the inaugural art walk kicking off a number of ongoing shows in downtown's gallery district

by Heather Joyner

Just when you think the arrival of autumn couldn't get any more exciting, the Illustrious Ladies from Skin City show up at the Underbelly to assist Side Show Bennie. Sounds like San Francisco or Seattle, but it's happening in our own beloved Knoxville—naturally. Bento wagons and espresso carts cannot be far behind.

In a recent conversation with clay artist and former south Florida resident Anna Maria Gundlach, I conveyed my enthusiasm about tomorrow evening's First Friday events in and around Market Square. We marveled at the blossoming local art scene, and Gundlach commented that with all there is to see and do in coming months, it seems a matter of feast following famine. Solidly in the you-can't-have-too-much-of-a-good-thing camp when it comes to art and general culture, I say, "Bring it on!" In addition to being stimulating, upcoming festivities should interest a range of individuals and reinforce an already strong sense of artistic community.

The concept of designating an evening every month for gallery hopping en masse is nothing new. For instance, First Thursdays were well established in Portland, Ore., when I lived there a decade ago, and they attracted the likes of Art News writers and gallery owners from afar—not to mention all sorts of "ordinary" people. Except for the greater possibility of vehicular manslaughter as folks scurry from place to place, there is no reason why Knoxville cannot join the artsy ranks of other cities.

Beyond the First Friday hipness factor is the art itself. Gundlach and others will show their work at Emily Dewhirst's Nomad Gallery (31 Market Square), live mannequins will sport clothing from Reruns (newly stocked following a water main explosion at the corner of Market and Union), Amy Campbell and Ai-Lun Wu will host an opening at Bliss Home + Art (24 Market Square), the Back Room Gallery at 420 West Church Avenue will open its doors, and Yee-Haw Industries will present a one-night "Skin City" event at their Back 40 Gallery (above the Downtown Grill & Brewery on the fifth floor of the Woodruff Building). Capping things off is an exhibition of junk sculpture by A1LabArts members and an "Aespyre party" with the aforementioned Side Show Bennie—both at the Underbelly (or "Spaghetti Bowl," located off McGhee and Blackstock Avenues). Most of the above should prove intriguing, but Skin City might just steal the overall show.

Conceived by third-year UT graduate student Jessica Meyer, Skin City is a performance piece in which five "Illustrious Ladies" will model the artist's lithography in the form of tattoos. According to Meyer, fellow artists Michelle Dussault, Lee Marchalonis, and others will act as a sort of "living picture gallery" as they make their way from a 7 p.m. grand entrance at the Back 40 Gallery to the Tomato Head restaurant and Preservation Pub on Market Square, then to points beyond. The women, wearing costumes created by Meyer, reflect the role of body decoration in rites of passage in various cultures. Says Meyer, "In this culture, [comparable rites are] the prom...the wedding. The bitter part of me feels like those things don't necessarily work out." Yet physical markings—or a fancy dress in a closet—attest to the occurrence and drama of such rituals.

As for the living picture notion, Meyer remarks, "When a person has art on their body, it's something we want to look at...to stare at openly." Herself the "owner" of numerous permanent tattoos (including one of Botticelli's "Birth of Venus"), the artist mentions the attention she gets in line at the grocery store. "People stare, even when they don't want to." Although tattoos have become so popular that they're no longer shocking, they are nevertheless visually striking images with much to say about the individuals they adorn. Existing in the flesh and in motion, they are indeed alive.

Meyer initially got the idea for her skin-transferable lithographs when visiting the Czech Pavilion at 1999's Venice Biennale (where an artist created tattoos for attendees). Later, she came across some "tattoo paper" that can be fed into a computer printer, but she was unhappy with the results. Many calls to a variety of companies eventually yielded a skin-compatible ink and process she found satisfactory for her purposes. Meyer says she draws often, but that the stylized look of the Skin City tattoos is perhaps more cartoon-like than her usual efforts. For example, one image is a kind of gift box that she describes as having "long, trailing ribbons and a woman's legs...[even though] the box is not big enough to contain a woman." She adds, "A lot of the work is about roles and relationships." Meyer says she likes the broad audience such art —and certainly those themes—can reach.

So catch one event or try to do it all. If there were ever a weekend to convince out-of-towners that we're not so boring after all, this one is it. And when Ashevillians start spending their weekends in Knoxville, we'll know we're definitely onto something.