Rock, Paper, Scissors - it’s the oldest game in the book - literally. Played by billions globally, the hand game dates back to the Chinese Han Dynasty and is even honored with its own US National Holiday. How does an art exhibition relate to this simple game? Aside from the fact that art, as the game, has no barriers of entry; anyone, at any age, can jump in and play. And, surprisingly, both are forms of universal language and are peacemakers. In this case though, we focus on the tools of the game and their prevalence in art making. View the exhibition online.
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December 4, 2023, Jackson, WY: Rock, Paper, Canvas is the new exhibition at Shari Brownfield Fine Art that explores the subtle connections between fine art and the childhood game Rock, Paper, Scissors. The opening reception will be held on December 14 from 4-7pm in conjunction with the downtown Holiday Stroll. In the exhibition, which runs from Dec 4, 2023, to March 1, 2024, a heavy focus is placed on the different ways 33 artists play with their mediums, specifically, rock, paper, and canvas.
Rock, dirt, sand, bark, fiber, and paper were some of the earliest materials used for communication and language; and early communication was rooted in pictures. “So often we think of art and imagine paint on a rectangular canvas, or perhaps a bronze sculpture,” says Shari Brownfield, who curated the exhibition. “Art can look like anything and be made of everything. Many artists feel more freedom when they practice outside of traditional art-making norms; they experiment and play. Works in the exhibit have glitter in them, colored pencil that looks like watercolor, pointillist painting that goes beyond hyperrealism, wire and strips of fabric, pastel smeared pages, mandala rock piles, and so many other found materials. What is so intriguing to me is how the medium can inspire the art.”
Less traditional materials have been used in artmaking throughout time and genres, whether by necessity or experimentation of new ideas. Mud-caked paintings by self-taught Alabama artist, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, became his oft-chosen medium due to lack of money to buy paint. Late New York sculptor, Boaz Vaadia, first experimented with bluestone because he came across it in a SoHo dump, and it was so plentiful that it eventually inspired an entire body of work. Other elements take shape more traditionally, such as the hyper realist paintings of river rocks by Alan Magee, the carved sandstone sculptures of self-taught artist Lonnie Holley, or the sundrenched landscape oil painting by Herman Maril.
As one moves through the exhibition in the cozy cabin, we see how organic elements – rock, paper and fiber – permeate artmaking. Spanning a multitude of genres and even centuries, delicate works on paper from the 1890s by French artist, Henry Moret, are contrasted with the contemporary digital collage art making process by Nigerian artist, Saidou Dicko, to the heavy, thick, sand filled impasto oil painting by the American abstract expressionist, Stanley Boxer.
The exhibition, Rock, Paper, Canvas runs from December 4, 2023, to March 1, 2024. The opening reception will be held from 4-7pm on the evening of December 14, 2023.