Graded Mirror by Jeanine Turner, Photo Courtesy of Unexpected Art
Jeanine Turner and Jeffrey Kent are making waves in the changing Baltimore art community, building new models for art and business. The opening of their second Unexpected Art location in Beyond the Unexpected: a Happening at Silo Point, occurred this past Saturday and featured over fifteen artists, musicians, and performers. Guests wandered through the restored grain elevator-turned-lobby among the tastefully arranged works of art, which included glass sculptures, mixed-media pieces, and photographs, among others. All the while guests were treated to performances by jam band Milk Bar, cover artists White Chihuahua, and singer-songwriter Jamal Loving, with dance performances by Talbot Johnson and Jenny Wohl.
Kent and Turner’s interest in providing so much variety lies in their own eclectic tastes: “Unlike regular galleries which usually do solo shows, or one or two artists at a time, we have twenty-three,” said Jeanine Turner, one half of the curatorial duo behind Unexpected Art. Turner explained, “If you go to an art show and you don’t like the artist that’s being shown, there’s not much more to do. But if you go to an art opening and there’s twenty-three artists, there’s bound to be stuff you’re going to like.”
By Laura Amussen, Photo Courtesy of Unexpected Art
Photographer Heezy Bear’s photographs stood out among the many mixed-media pieces, as his were the only photographs in the exhibit. The pieces focused on symmetry and parallelism in breathtaking depictions of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. If one were not paying close attention, one would possibly think that the pictures were doubled, an effect achieved through Photoshop. Heezy Bear said he gets that a lot: “A lot of people look at these photos and ask me, Oh, so is this part photoshopped? A lot of people think I’ve shot one side of it, but that’s exactly how the shot was.” The photographer’s work emphasizes composition: while he stressed that strong subjects such as the Sagrada Familia are important, he believes that “what matters is our take on it, how we decide to shoot it, what angle we decide to shoot at, the perception our photo gives on that subject.”
Beyond photography, the event was full of pieces that utilized a wide variety of materials. Linda DePalma’s “No Bed of Roses” displayed a thorny, intricate mix of paper, mylar, acrylic, ink, brass, and thread to create the effect of fiery thorns intertwining with brass and paper. DePalma’s work is drawn, woven, painted, sewn, cut up, and woven back together to create an interweaving of soft and hard, as the artist described it.
By Linda DePalma, Photo Courtesy of Unexpected Art
Paul Taylor also employs a variety of materials, ranging from metal, glass and paper in his massive, expansive “industrial chic” pieces, to bungee cords, in his light-hearted yet captivating “Bungee Box.” The piece was a departure from form: as the artist explained, “I’ve been doing a series of things about (his piece ‘Afternoon Apparition’s’) size, really heavy, big, impractical stuff. I have to return to something small and common, cheap, that uses basic materials.” Taylor envisioned the piece as something interactive, a “device of infinite color combinations. The viewer could maybe change the cords around, and come up with an endless variety of combinations and patterns.”
The quick, fluid nature of something like “Bungee Box” is a good exemplar of the ethos of the Unexpected Art happening. As Kent and Turner explained, the events take place in spaces that are temporary: “we fill vacant spaces, or spaces that need to be activated, temporarily, and we serve the developer or the property owner, as well as the artists who need to get their work shown.” In a sense, they are showcasing the space as well as the art, to which effect the curators are not sure, necessarily, when their time in the space will be done. It urges what Kent refers to as “an organic entertaining calendar which is more free form…we plan a lot of our events in two weeks, where they should take months.”
This was the case for dancer Talbot Johnson, who was asked to put together a piece that would integrate with the event in the space of two weeks. The dancers, dressed as ordinary event-goers, mingled with the crowd and observed the art, but at a certain point during the evening, without any warning or fanfare, froze in place in various postures, only to be activated by Johnson in what he referred to as “a conversation through gesture and motion.” The end result was an energetic collaboration that culminated in the dancers arriving at the center of the lobby and performing for an enthusiastic crowd.
Also unconventional is the way potential buyers can interact with the art and look to purchase it. Kent and Turner have organized the gallery to be almost fully autonomous: guests can call their Fine Art Concierge, who will assist with the purchase; visit www.unexpectedartspace to buy the art online; or scan a QR code with a smartphone to go directly to the webpage where they may purchase the art. Kent and Turner’s ideal is to “have spaces that can somewhat operate on their own, and make everything automated, so that a visitor can come and look at the art and purchase the art and get the art delivered, and all without us having to have a lot of employees or attendants, which makes it easier for us to go into buildings and areas that don’t allow for that kind of thing.”
The Happening at Silo Point did indeed seem to embody that kind of fluidity, but also an intense energy that boded well for the Baltimore art scene and Unexpected Art’s place in it. As Paul Taylor put it, “change is coming to Baltimore; it’s slow, but I see little pockets of progress here and there.” The concept of the art gallery found in Unexpected Art’s Silo Point location certainly seems a step in that direction.
