This also marks the debut of new Gallery Director, Michael Goodson, former chief curator of The Contemporary Dayton, who takes the reins from retiring director Dennis Harrington.
Carving out meaning
The artists on view quite literally carve out meaning through material.
Through the act of relief carving with box cutters and small sculptural tools, Hannah Parrett breathes new life into foam and wood. The process, which she likens to drawing, has the effect of creating an abstracted frame or window through which to explore both real and imagined spaces.
Erika NJ Allen sculpts vessels adorned with portraits and ceramic foliage. Bananas appear as a symbolic metaphor for global histories of exploitative labor. Hollowed out, the peels remain.
Clive Moloney uses woodland materials to comment on life cycles and the conflicted human relationship with the natural world. Trees are thematically meaningful; trunks are carved out, either to plaster cast or to fill and repurpose.
The artists both subtract and embellish by carving away and in doing so speak to notions of transformation.
Hannah Parrett
Artists at the Weston are confronted with the challenge of installing work in the vertical expanse of the street-level atrium. The architecture of the open floor plan incorporates surfaces ranging from exposed brick to a wall of windows.
Hannah Parrett has met the obstacle gracefully with an installation comprising of three main components: a large-scale wall mural, a framed-out stud wall, and a table tableau. The placement calls on the activation of the viewer who must weave their way in and around objects and confront the art from multiple angles.
Raised in South Dakota, Parrett is an artist/educator who relocated to the Midwest to study and subsequently teach at Ohio State University. Her painting and sculpture is rooted in what she calls the “relentless” landscape of her home state, including the scale of the prairie’s horizon and sudden shifts in weather patterns.
“My work pulls from the emotional and psychological experiences of place, specifically the relationship between landscape, architecture, and domestic space,” said Parrett.
Titles in Parrett’s show are culled from writings by polymath thinker Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and poet William Carlos Williams.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
The poem “spring…and all” is carved into a wood tabletop surface dotted with fake fruit and found objects.
“I use the structure of a table to create an encounter with the familiarity of domestic space,” said Parrett.
Tables double as gathering places, and its placement nestled within the studded wall suggests a room-within-a-room, just as the Weston gallery is housed inside the larger Aronoff Center with its large theater. Parrett compares painting to invented theatrical spaces, so the mirroring feels appropriate.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
The vivid yellow-red of the 39-foot wall mural is inspired by Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow”. The poem acted as a mantra while setting up the show, which required a scaffolding and group effort.
The wall, she said, should have a “dramatic visual impact, like a volcano”, or like being mesmerized by the coals of a fire. She started with the red background and then added chalk pastel drawings on top, using a projector to enlarge her designs.
A book of color theory by Goethe also had an impact on the artist. His philosophy emphasized the interconnectedness of nature and humanity, recognizing relationships between science and art.
“The physical textures of the reliefs and chalk pastel drawings on the wall bring touch into an ethereal landscape, bridging the gap between reality and imagined space,” said Parrett.
The mural is ephemeral, and will be painted out when the show comes down. Just like shifting light, burning coals, or the South Dakota sky, Parrett draws from things that are in a constant state of change.
Erika NJ Allen
With 3,500 square feet of exhibition space, viewers will encounter two more impressive exhibits on the lower level.
Erika NJ Allen’s work has a conceptual slant, though her luminous porcelain with gold leaf detailing will pull you in regardless of the background story.
The hefty title confirms that there’s more than meets the eye. “This is Not a Banana Republic — A Manifesto of Empire Domination, the Immigration Experience, and Empathy” prompts some digging.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Born in Guatemala, and currently residing in Cincinnati where she teaches at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Allen’s mixed-media installation explores both the artist’s personal journey and the broader immigrant experience.
Though banana imagery tends to come with some inherited pop-art-comedy (Charlie Chaplin, Andy Warhol), Allen has employed the quotidian object to represent marginalized communities and the global histories of labor and exploitation within the banana industry.
The source material began with a personal experience. In 2019, Allen underwent a hysterectomy, an experience that changed her relationship with her body, food, and art.
“During recovery, fruits and vegetables became more than sustenance; they became meditative symbols of resilience and healing. This connection inspired me to replicate the produce I consumed in clay, imprinting real fruits onto ceramic surfaces,” she said.
This connection evolved into a political dialogue about the banana industry, which has faced several controversies including labor and human rights concerns, environmental damage due to agrochemicals, and the US military-led legacy of the “Banana Wars”.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
An intriguing wall display features Guatemalan money placed inside early 20th century uranium glass compote dishes. Displayed on floating shelves over backlights, they emit a radioactive glow. Layers of meaning are both hidden and revealed.
Clive Moloney
Originally from Ireland, Clive Moloney draws inspiration from the natural landscape around his home in Cincinnati’s Clifton neighborhood. His exhibition, “Between Trees”, creates visual mythology around what he calls the “more-than-human” world.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
The work is quietly powerful in rendering a sense of awe through an economy of materials including plants, wood, wild clay, and animal bones.
A piece titled “Rewild” is made of raw clay, likely sourced from a stream or riverbed. As it crumbles the pieces must fall off the wall, though there was mysteriously no evidence on the gallery floor. Carved into the 5-foot diameter surface is a spiral, a form evocative of time and mortality with cultural echoes ranging from Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” to Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty”.
“Gilded Nest” is a hollowed-out tree trunk containing a miniature forest of rescued native tree saplings. Encrusted in gold leaf and illuminated within by a grow light, the sculpture takes on the worship status of an idol.
Credit: Hannah Kasper
Credit: Hannah Kasper
There is no object in Moloney’s show lacking the reverie of poetry; each work quietly sings in a meditative voice, appearing as a collaboration between the artist and the flora and fauna he finds right in his Southwest Ohio backyard.
Carve out time to see these unique artists before the show comes down Aug. 24.
HOW TO GO
What: “Hannah Parrett: (Grass Crunching)”; “Erika NJ Allen: This is Not a Banana Republic - A Manifesto of Empire Domination, The Immigration Experience, and Empathy” and “Clive Moloney: Between Trees”
Where: Weston Art Gallery, 650 Walnut St., Cincinnati
When: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Through Aug. 24.
Admission: Free
More info: westonartgallery.com; (513) 977-4165
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