Elaine L. Jacobs Gallery hosts curator, artist talk on current exhibition

Wayne State’s Elaine L. Jacobs Gallery will host a gallery talk on December 4 in connection with the exhibit Menagerie, or Artwork Not About Love.

The talk, located in the Old Main annex building, will feature one of the curators, Katie Grace McGowan, and two of the artists, Kirsten Leenaars and Chido Johnson, to discuss the theme and other topics surrounding the exhibition.

“This exhibition has been realized after many years of exchanges between Katie and I about art - or life generally, and would not have been the same without this time,” exhibit co-creator Jaime Marie Davis said.

The concept for the exhibit was inspired by the book Zoo, or Letters Not About Love by Viktor Shklovsky, in which Shklovsky writes daily love letters to Elsa Triolet without the mention of love.

“In the book, there was a letter written about the author's experience at the zoo, which also inspired the title of the exhibition referencing a menagerie,” Davis said. “As a curator, I often find it difficult, especially in a group exhibition, to claim a singular framing device for a range of diverse subjects and practices. This exhibition tries to negotiate these types of frames, but does so within the accepting and versatile terms of love.”

This group exhibition includes both international and Detroit-based artists including Terry Atkinson, Anetta Mona Chişa, Douglas Degges, Chido Johnson, Julia Klein, and more.

“Most of these works existed previously and were selected by Katie and me because of their unexpected relationship to the theme,” Davis said.

London-based artist Sarah Pager, one of the artists presented in the gallery, came up with “Romeo and Juliet Have Gone to Heaven.” According the description, the piece plays on the lateral thinking game where the setup, ‘Romeo and Juliet are lying dead on the ground,’ needs to be worked out and reveals the subjects to be goldfish.

“I do think the exhibition was a success,” Davis said. “It opened up topics that one might not associate with love, and also drew interesting parallels with other parts of the world on subjects that are felt deeply in the city of Detroit.”

The gallery will be hosting a talk in connection with the exhibit on December 4th. The gallery talk will feature one of the curators, Katie Grace McGowan, and two of the artists, Kirsten Leenaars and Chido Johnson, to discuss the theme and other topics surrounding the exhibition.

The exhibit will be on display until December 12. For more information, visit art.wayne.edu.

Link: