Photos of people from the Occupy movement and a celebration of Latino artists living in Oklahoma give viewers plenty to think about in two new shows at Mainsite Contemporary Art, 122 E Main, Norman.

In “Kendall Brown: Snapshots of the American Autumn,” Norman artist Brown takes a more fine art than documentary approach to giant photos of protesters in Dallas, Norman, Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Brown said that she decided to remove the protesters from their environment in order to “allow the viewer to see the protester for who they are as a human first.” “I have been inspired by the work of (Richard) Avedon,” Brown said of her gigantic black-and-white photographs on vinyl. “The resulting images are more fine art than photojournalism.”

Brown added, however, that she had been “immersed in the protest, standing with the occupiers and camping alongside them in order to fully document their, and my own, experience.”

A black woman at the Oklahoma City protest last October holds up a hardhitting sign about the inequality of wealth, but her warm smiles goes with its other message, that she means “no offense, it’s just math.”

Smiling warmly, too, are two Dallas protesters, a “Christian Democrat” with a small American flag, and a blonde with pierced nose and lips, holding a sign urging us to “Bring Big Business to Justice!”

Brown’s pictures of two other Dallas protestors are a bit more edgy and confrontational.

In one a masked lady, with a guitar over her shoulder, holds up a sign attacking “un-sustainable consumption,” and in the other a woman points her finger, like a revolver, at a sign that says “WE ARE FED UP.”

A wall of small prints of many of the portrait photos has a strong, cumulative impact, while Brown touches us with her large photo of a little girl holding up a big sign asking “HOW WILL I PAY MY DEBT?”

Offering us a variety of media and messages from both established and emerging artists is “Celebracion: An Exhibition of Oklahoma Latino Artists,” curated by Nathan Lee, director of Inclusion in Arts.

One man covers his face with a hand and another holds a mirror in front of it in a powerful, almost fantasy-like mixed media painting of writhing, anonymous figures in confined space, by Carlos Tello.

In “La Luna,” one of several ink spray paintings on birch by Narciso Arguelles, a crescent moon, with a human face, seems to drip white paint as well as shed its rays on the blue night sky.

A lyrical, partly nude “Mother Earth,” throwing her head back to the cosmos, seems to be part of the mountain on which she is reclining, in one of three small, well-handled oils by Laura Berthila Malagon.

Quietly lyrical, too, are the multi-colored buds and blossoms on golden branches, attached to and seeming to float over the wall, in the “Joya” series, of veteran Oklahoma City artist Paul Medina.

Also sculptural are two tall ceramic vessels, adorned with repetitive decorative patterns (and wooden handles or a tied-down marble top), from the “My Labyrinth” series of Alejandro Bagajewicz.

Jaime Macias depicts dancing couples enjoying “The Dance of Life,” in three deftly executed oil pastel drawings, and places watermelon sections in front of multiple twisters in “Tornado in Oklahoma.”

Nicely simplified and stylized, if somewhat flat and illustrational, are two acrylic canvases by Franz Mutis.

One Mutis acrylic portrays a colorfully clad tropical band, wearing straw hats, and the other offers us a glimpse of a hip-looking ensemble, being toasted with red wine, as they perform “Jazz in Venice” at night.

Set for a closing reception from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. July 13, the two shows are well worth visiting during their run through July 21 at Mainsite, the home of the Norman Arts Council.

Hours are from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The gallery will be closed on July Fourth. Call 360-1162 or visit the website at www.normanarts.org for information.

Show / Hide Comments