'Revelation of Process' compiles local, eclectic talent for Piccolo exhibit

Bug wings. Stir sticks. Spray cans. Bits of fabric. Pieces of glass.

The connection?

Five modern-day Charleston artists doing what they do best: using their media to push the limits of their creative processes to achieve something new, something inspiring, something not yet created.

"Contemporary Charleston 2009: Revelation of Process" is the visual art exhibit not to miss during this year's Piccolo Spoleto Festival. Curated by Erin Glaze, gallery director of the City Gallery at Waterfront Park, the show has had rave reviews since its opening this past weekend.

Featuring works by Jonathan Brilliant, Karin Olah, Ishmael, Dorothy Netherland and Ben Timpson, the show, part of the Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, is an eclectic mixture of local contemporary artists.

"I think that a show about process was a great idea. So often, people have no idea how artwork is created, and understanding an artist's process can provide a context, which can greatly enhance people's understanding and appreciation for the work. I am proud to be a part of it, and I think that the public will love this show," says Netherland.

Olah says, "Every artist has a process, recipe and plan of attack. The artists chosen for the show don't just use process in the making of their art; rather, the process is the point. Glaze, in her curatorial debut, selected five artists with very different styles and processes. The result is a lively conversation born of disparate backgrounds, training and techniques. ... It's very hip, very now."

Simply 'Brilliant'

Upon entering the City Gallery, there is a monumental, organic shape that welcomes you, immediately drawing the word "wow" from your lips. Upon closer inspection, another "wow" follows after you realize that this two-story-high sculpture has been created by 70,000 wooden coffee stir sticks woven in place and held together by sheer tension!

Brilliant spent 10 days creating this site-specific installation to engage with the architecture of the space.

You might utter yet another "wow" while you think about how much work and patience it required to accomplish something of that magnitude.

The sculpture is consistent with the other site-specific installations Brilliant has executed over the past five years, but he adds: "This piece is a bit more lyrical than previous installations, and I pushed the gravity-defying aspects further. I think this is the largest installation I have created."

Little wings and things

For years, Timpson has been collecting a variety of "roadside attractions" such as insect wings, pieces of plastic, locks of hair and tiny flowers.

In a type of poetic, mad scientist way, he delicately pieces these together with the utmost care to create these incredible, organic mini scenes. These creations are closely photographed and then typically enlarged into prints.

He is particularly excited about this show because it features more than just the prints, it shows the originals by using handmade magnifying boxes — a concept Timpson has been working on creating for some time now. It is the first time that he has shown such a large collection of originals matched up with the prints.

"People can finally see that these giant prints came from these tiny creations," he says. "Everyone loved the original slides; they could not believe that they were really nature and that they were really that small. They said they were inspired and wanted to go explore nature now!"

The 500-pound gorilla

Self-named after the book "Ishmael" by Danielle Quinn, this artist has paved his own path in much the same way. Born in Madrid to Cuban parents and raised in a family of artists in Florida, Ishmael's chosen medium often has been a can of spray paint. Fascinated by (and revered in) the world of graffiti, his work has matured over the years, pushing beyond quick works on the sides of buildings and, interestingly, merging the two seemingly different worlds of street art and fine art.

Although Ishmael describes his own work at the City Gallery as some of the "rawest" he's done in a while, the process appears to be more controlled and more refined as he experiments with different elements, again pushing himself as a creator. Glaze describes his work by saying, "The work combines graphic forms with feminine, organic shapes and bold, masculine, hard lines using fire, spray enamel, latex and ink."

Ishmael says he was pleasantly surprised by the reactions from opening night.

"I overheard comments that were really in tune to what I'm trying to accomplish. I had an older crowd looking closely at my work, and they were getting it," he said.

Olah-la

Olah lives in a world full of soft swatches of color.

"My inspiration comes from the sky, the sun, the air, the earth. There's a mystery in the layers of atmosphere in the clouds; there's a happy energy that the sun gives off, there's a personal connection to the grass, the sand, the trees — these are all emotions that I hope to incite. Then I pile all these positive emotions up, layer by layer. I take printmaking and quiltmaking principles, add a dash of painting and come up with a new process," she says.

Her works look like paintings from a distance, but when you get up close, you realize that the brushstrokes are cut pieces of fabric, intricately layered to appear like paint. Her pieces in this exhibition are fun and vibrant and literally jump off the canvases.

Glaze allowed Olah and Ishmael to paste and paint directly onto the walls of the gallery, letting their compositions of loops and curls grow beyond their canvases and, finally, merging into one painting consisting of both artists' works. Olah says, "Working with Ishmael was a fun challenge integrating our styles — geometric and curvilinear, gothic and organic shapes, fabric and paint. I love his work, so I trusted him completely, and I think we pulled off something relevant — a conversation about contemporary art."

Glass panes

Often using vintage women's magazines as source material, Dorothy Netherlands' creative process is to paint in reverse with ink and acrylic on glass pieces, which eventually are stacked together.

For this show, she has created all diptychs, allowing the paintings to play off each other. These pairs became "suggestive of certain psychological states evoked from the number 2: doubles, opposites, contradictory impulses, things which are revealed and concealed, among other ideas," she explains.

"This work also reflects a shift for me compositionally. Unlike in my past paintings, here I employed different kinds of groupings, planned the paintings out a little (which I had never done) and used three panes of glass instead of two. The figures are not as jumbled, and there are rings and petal-like shapes around the figures. I had a lot of fun with it because I tried a lot of different things," she said.

The sixth artist

Many of the artists interviewed paid homage to a sixth artist, documentary filmmaker Austin Nelson. Nelson directed, filmed, edited and created documentaries about each artist, giving visitors a rare glimpse inside their lives and why they make the art that they do.

"The entire presentation really is about experience. And it's a great experience!" says Olah.