THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CEDARHURST BIENNIAL COMPETITION EXHIBIT

twenty-eighth

JULY 28 - OCTOBER 6, 2019

GALLERY SPONSORS

Hunt and Donna Bonnan EXHIBIT SPONSORS

Bill and Sylvia Howard

Antonio Martinez, Anonymous Father

Emily Elliott, Golden Boy

Michael Troutt, Unrevealed

Emily Elliott, Ennui Biennial accepted

Robert Weber, Father Time

Nick Wilkerson, Fireball

Michael Troutt, Healing

The 2019 State of the Biennial Rusty Freeman, Director of Visual Arts Cedarhurst

Some observations. It is always fascinating and perhaps even important to see what is happening in contemporary art and especially during tumultuous political times. Our Biennial remains a good way to assess what is significant and happening in the world of contemporary art today, be it abroad, across the nation, or right here at home. Inviting artists from the southern Illinois region including St. Louis to send to us whatever subject they prefer allows us to see what interests and moves them to reflect their vision of our current moment in history.

Southern Illinois features a diverse community of artists who scan cultural horizons for the socially significant and the lighthearted. Social commentary to art for art’s sake mark our shared terrains.

Nine different images were submitted that featured heads covered in a cloth or bag or mask of some kind. One was selected. On one level, the phenomena seem to suggest that we have had enough of never-ending news cycles and the steady stream of fake news. At any rate, some want to block out the world. It would be misleading to apply arbitrarily a theme to these pictures; but together, the haunting images suggest our (post)modern world where isolation and withdrawal are an affect.

Moving on. Pastoral scenes of farmland offer pleasant respites, but there were also images of nature that seemed to be in combat with technology.

A photograph of nothing more than several giant electric power towers dominate over the land as aliens from another world. Delight is found in the ceramic sculpture of Dali and Picasso playing chess. The chess match suggests the internal struggle artists face amongst themselves. The match also reminds that St. Louis is one of the world capitals of chess. A black and white photograph presents the portrait of a young child, arms folded across chest, standing on a slope, misty woods in the background. The child stares directly into the camera confronting us. Solemnly, the child questions-- what is our future?

A very powerful painting of a crowd centers on a faceless American veteran standing out-of-sync within the group. Recognizable are Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Basquiat, Stan Lee, among others. As homage to past heroes and visionaries the painting defines a democracy of differing viewpoints. The faceless US soldier is the self-portrait of the artist.

Thank you to all the artists who entered, some of your stories were cited above. Congratulations to all artists who were selected for this survey of the world today.

Emily Elliott, Agita

Ann R. Fisher, Come What May

We thank this year’s Biennial juror, Wassan Al-Khudhairi, curator at the St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum; it is an outstanding exhibition. Selecting work for a juried exhibition is much, much more difficult than it may be imagined. Works are presented out of context; it is a blind process, so no opportunity to discuss the work with the artist; and as only three works may be submitted, there is no opportunity to see a more rounded body of work which would help determine just how well an artist has articulated her or his subject. We thank all the artists for taking the risk, the risk to comment, to share, to make a difference, to take a stand.

Deb Lutz | Good Hope, IL | Splash Judith Shaw | Clayton, MO | Fault Lines

Kevin Veara | Springfield, IL | Exult #50 Purple Finch

Rachel Malcolm Ensor | Murphysboro, IL | Ellipse

Jacob Hornback | Lacon, IL | Faceless

Darby Ortolano | Murphysboro, IL | Forest Floor

Nathan Pearce | Fairfield, IL | Untitled from Midwest Dirt

Larry Torno | St. Louis, MO | The Herd Emily Elliott | St. Louis, MO | Ennui

DeSande R | Carbondale, IL | Nina Simone: Humility & Strength

Joe Chesla | St. Louis, MO | Within Reach of Another Nolan Wright | Carbondale, IL | Becalmed

JurorStatement, 2019 Wassan Al-Khudhairi

Chief Curator | St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum Jurying the Cedarhurst Biennial has been an honor and quite a difficult task. Reviewing submissions is a wonderful opportunity for me as a curator to gain a sense of what artists are making and thinking about. Making selections is always a challenging task and one I do not take lightly. Objectivity when it comes to looking at art is almost an impossible feat, I did my best at keeping an open mind.

The impulse to make is fueled by creative energy, experimentation, and risk taking; this is evidenced in all the submissions for the 2019 Cedarhurst Biennial. The current American sociopolitical climate is wrought with uncertainty about our

Sun Smith-Foret | Elsah, IL | Twins Rafting into River Styx

rights as citizens and our landscape is in constant flux. It is during these times when we look to artists and art communities to help us understand and process the world we live in.

The works selected for the Biennial this year range in medium, technique, and style. Some artists have chosen to focus on materiality, technique, and medium while others have chosen to tackle social and environmental subjects.

What brings these works together this year is the creativity and imagination embedded in each of these works.

Randy Simmons | Paducah, KY Radiohead: Self Portrait in Rome

Michael Onken | Carbondale, IL | Wee Fiddlers Lament

Rachel Malcolm Ensor | Murphysboro, IL | Branch

Joe Chesla | St. Louis, MO | A Force of Division Darby Ortolano | Murphysboro, IL | Nature

Kaori Davis | Carbondale, IL | Portrait of Larry

Brad Eilering | Belleville, IL | Merge

Jimmy Liu | Ballwin, MO | Space Monkey Teapot

Rachel Malcolm Ensor | Murphysboro, IL My Eyes Are On You

Sheila Lamberson | Bloomington, IL | Yin Yang Koi

Randy Simmons | Paducah, KY | Faust Arp: You Thought You Had It In You But No

Luanne Rimel | St. Louis, MO | Reveal

Mark Nycz | Carbondale, IL | Portrait of Place

Robert Lee Mejer | Quincy, IL | Take PC #12

Michael Onken | Carbondale, IL | High Water, Moon Waxing Gibbous

Alison A. Smith | Carbondale, IL | Still Life with Peony and Hourglass

Haley Inyart | Belleville, IL | 2 Pescatarians

Mary Ann Michna | New Harmony, IN | Shriners in an Oldsmobile Cutlass

Deb Lutz | Good Hope, IL | Ruffled Feathers

Nolan Wright | Carbondale, IL | Vortex

Randy Simmons | Paducah, KY | Conversion of St. Paul Dennis Ringering | Collinsville, IL | Nemesis

James Ibur | St. Louis, MO | Wave David M. Yates | Edwardsville, IL | Quite the Cock

Mark Nycz | Carbondale, IL | Welder in His Shop

Luanne Rimel | St. Louis, MO | Reveal

Mary Ann Nye | St. Louis, MO | Unfolding

Joe Chesla | St. Louis, MO | Evasive Efforts

Brad Eilering | Belleville, IL | Fred and Ginger

Alison A. Smith | Carbondale, IL | Still Life with Pomegranates and Pomanders

Kevin Veara | Springfield, IL | Exult #43 Nelson’s Sparrow

Nathan Pearce | Fairfield, IL | Untitled from Midwest Dirt

Judith Shaw | Clayton, MO | Treadbare

2019 AWARDWINNERS BEST OF SHOW - $1,500 David M. Yates Quite the Cock, 2017, oil on canvas

FIRST PLACE - $1,000 Luanne Rimel Exhale, 2018, textile/photo on silk/stitched

SECOND PLACE - $ 500

Alison A. Smith Still Life with Pomegranates and Pomanders, 2017, archival pigment print

THIRD PLACE - $ 250

Haley Inyart 2 Pescatarians, 2019, charcoal, ink wash, gouache, transfers

2019 AWARDSUPPORT

Sun Smith-Foret | Elsah, IL | Darkbirds Humming in the Dark of Night

SPONSORS:

David and Karen Bayer Mark and Janet Hassakis

COSPONSORS:

Dean and Nancy Graves Belle Stewart Bob and Sue Tomlin

DONOR:

Tom and Sharon Francois Michael Onken | Carbondale, IL | 58°N 32°W

SPECIALTHANKS

Jimmy Liu | Ballwin, MO | Pablo Picasso Plays Chess with Salvador Dali Teapot

Roger B. Bean | Moreton, IL | Towers

Special thanks to Pamela Kirkpatrick, Graphics by Design, Mt. Vernon, IL, and Thomas Arpasi, Anthony Lankford, Mt. Vernon Neon, Mt. Vernon, IL.

2600 Richview Road | Mt. Vernon, IL 62864 | www.cedarhurst.org

Cedarhurst is an activity of the John R. and Eleanor R. Mitchell Foundation.

Programs are partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency as well as the Schweinfurth Foundation.

Cover art: Roger B. Bean | Moreton, IL | (detail) Towers