KY.7 Biennial Jurors Statement
Welcome to the second installment of the KY.7 Biennial, a regional survey of contemporary art open to works produced in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and its seven contiguous states: Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. This past summer LAL made a call to artists to submit work to KY.7 Biennial; generating over 800 entries from around the region. The result is a dynamic exhibition of 55 pieces representing a wide-range of media from painting, to video, to installation.
Even with open exhibit calls with a particular theme there will be a wide variety of kinds of works to choose from. But for a project such as this, with only a geographical region as limitation, the diversity factor spreads to its widest possible, providing a pool of works which may either be an overwhelming visual cacophony full of chaos, or a rich soup of creative biodiversity from which to build a perfect symphony.
What is most intriguing with such broad collections of art is the coincidental unity that occurs once the works are brought together, creating a fresh new context for each other within the gallery space. And as we know, context changes everything. Like characters in a story, these pieces interact, inevitably and irrevocably changing each other for the viewer of this exhibit. Almost none are impervious to this contextual effect. So with this each work is, in a sense, made brand new.
An open call format, with a wide diversity of work, inherently implies a recognition of contradicting positions which can disrupt an overall unity or aesthetic balance. At the same time the dissonance created hopefully can generate genuine dialogue about differing worldviews. In fact, disruption is perhaps the main curatorial aim of this exhibition.
KY.7 Biennial is more than just a survey of meaningful art. It is a vehicle to promote our region’s most forward-thinking artists. In the service of those artists and contemporary art, the selection goals were to choose artwork that is innovative in production and concept, culturally relevant, and addresses important political and social issues. As KY.7 Biennial grows, we look forward to the conversations and debate about trends and answers to the question of what it means to be an artist from this region.
Thanks to the rich combination of works for this exhibit, there is a story to be uncovered here. And this story, the thread that runs through and connects each work, was not a curatorial machination. Rather it arose organically, as a result of the creative chemistry between these objects of art.
Jurors for the 2010 KY.7 Biennial were Jason Franz, Executive Director (volunteer) and Chief Curator at Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center in Cincinnati, Ohio; John Begley, Gallery Director and Coordinator of Critical and Curatorial Studies at the Hite Art Institute, University of Louisville, Kentucky; Becky Alley. Exhibitions and Programs Director at the Lexington Art League.
press coverage:
-"'KY.7 Biennial' highlights diversity of regional art, artists" by Candace Chaney, Lexington Herald-Leader- feature story of Weekender; October 7, 2010
Even with open exhibit calls with a particular theme there will be a wide variety of kinds of works to choose from. But for a project such as this, with only a geographical region as limitation, the diversity factor spreads to its widest possible, providing a pool of works which may either be an overwhelming visual cacophony full of chaos, or a rich soup of creative biodiversity from which to build a perfect symphony.
What is most intriguing with such broad collections of art is the coincidental unity that occurs once the works are brought together, creating a fresh new context for each other within the gallery space. And as we know, context changes everything. Like characters in a story, these pieces interact, inevitably and irrevocably changing each other for the viewer of this exhibit. Almost none are impervious to this contextual effect. So with this each work is, in a sense, made brand new.
An open call format, with a wide diversity of work, inherently implies a recognition of contradicting positions which can disrupt an overall unity or aesthetic balance. At the same time the dissonance created hopefully can generate genuine dialogue about differing worldviews. In fact, disruption is perhaps the main curatorial aim of this exhibition.
KY.7 Biennial is more than just a survey of meaningful art. It is a vehicle to promote our region’s most forward-thinking artists. In the service of those artists and contemporary art, the selection goals were to choose artwork that is innovative in production and concept, culturally relevant, and addresses important political and social issues. As KY.7 Biennial grows, we look forward to the conversations and debate about trends and answers to the question of what it means to be an artist from this region.
Thanks to the rich combination of works for this exhibit, there is a story to be uncovered here. And this story, the thread that runs through and connects each work, was not a curatorial machination. Rather it arose organically, as a result of the creative chemistry between these objects of art.
Jurors for the 2010 KY.7 Biennial were Jason Franz, Executive Director (volunteer) and Chief Curator at Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center in Cincinnati, Ohio; John Begley, Gallery Director and Coordinator of Critical and Curatorial Studies at the Hite Art Institute, University of Louisville, Kentucky; Becky Alley. Exhibitions and Programs Director at the Lexington Art League.
press coverage:
-"'KY.7 Biennial' highlights diversity of regional art, artists" by Candace Chaney, Lexington Herald-Leader- feature story of Weekender; October 7, 2010