introducing ... rust_rococo
Filling a reconfigured space within downtown youngstown, the gallery's first show will highlight:
"...the lush, the curvaceous, the vibrant, the smooth, the solid, and the sexual from apparent barrenness.
What these artists create is a new aesthetic of abandon.
They indulge.
Rejecting the macabre pantomime of aimless nostalgia and refusing to be overcome by the heavy shadow of memory and doubt, these artists invigorate and reconquer how we understand our wasted landscape.
By doing so, they expose how our rust can empower, not suffocate, our future."
starting at 7pm at the LG, the exhibition will feature the works of:
Jimmy Pernotto
Justin Reese
Jimmy Hagan
Leslie Cusano
Steve Poullas
Don Attenberger
Salem Reese
Aimee Kirby
Kudos to the organizer of this event.
From the διασπορά in Europe, another son has returned to create the city.
- - -
Similar to others about town, this exhibition highlights how many segments of Youngstown have really embraced the term "rust belt" for self-identification.
The term now lacks a purely negative connotation.
It's a design perspective.
It's a sense of place.
It's a call of identity.
Just look at some of the local entities:
- Artists of the Rust Belt (link)
- Rust Belt Brewing Co. (link and link)
- Rust Belt Theater Company (link)
- Rust_Rococo
- Rust Belt Bloggers
- Rusty Waters Apparel (check out their shirts - sweet design below is copyrighted)
here's the question:
is this a long-term movement and a redefintion nationwide, or is it a short-lived localized marketing effort?
3 comments:
In one sense it is both, a localized marketing effort as well as, a redefining,rebirth,re-introduction of a new sensibility of who comes from this geographical region. It is an embracing of our past with a building momentum towards a brighter future that does not dwell on the negatives of the past. grow local,think global. Yes the term "rustbelt" was once considered a negative connotation and coal was once just considered a rock. forgive my oversimplification but under pressure what does coal become?
is this a long-term movement and a redefintion nationwide, or is it a short-lived localized marketing effort?
How many of these people are re-patriates? How many have moved on to come back?
My impression is that the culture that still exists here doesn't in other parts of the country. That what we consider mainstream is a sub-culture in the broader US.
I think this this movement is really tapping into something real. I don't think that this is just a flash in the pan.
thanks for the good comments Lou and Downfirce.
link to images at the event:
http://downforce-imaging.blogspot.com/2010/07/art-best-served-with-bit-of-lemon.html
I thought under pressure, a lump of coal becomes a smaller lump of coal...
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