By Chris Chesky/Murphy News Service
You’ve got just two days to catch some fine work from female artists on display at the WonderWomen exhibit at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery for Art. The show closes Saturday.
WonderWomen has been on display since Jan. 20. It features the work of women artists who have been inspired by comics, animation or popular culture. The exhibit is curated by Frenchy Lunning, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, for Art Director Howard Oransky, and Susan Smoluchowski. The show is sponsored by the Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, with support from the Minnesota State Arts Board.
“I think the exhibition has been successful because it’s interesting, fun and surprising,” Oransky said. “It’s interesting because there’s a lot of serious content, but the content is accessible and relatable. It’s fun because comics, animation and popular culture appeal to our need for playfulness. It’s surprising because it upsets our preconceptions of what art its or should be and what a gallery exhibition is or should be.”
Jennifer Camper, one of the artists whose work is displayed at WonderWomen, bases her work off of the stories that she enjoys the most, which also, coincidentally, happen to be told the least.
“Comics are the bastard love-child of art and writing,” Camper said. “My comics tell the stories that I’m interested in reading, stories that are rarely told. I give voice to outsiders. The work often explores how gender, sexuality, race and class imprint characters and their actions. Behind all the art speak is simply this — I want to tell good stories.”
Diyan Achjadi uses her art to explore the way nationalism and national identity are depicted in today’s pop culture.
“My fascination for pop culture comes from concerns as to how, for better or worse, ideologies become normalized through their repetition, circulation, and regurgitation, often under the guise of entertainment or education,” Achjadi said.
Admission to the exhibit at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, 405 21st Avenue South, Minneapolis, is free. Hours are from 11:00 a.m.- 7:00 p.m. Call (612) 624-7530 for information.
Reporter Chris Chesky is studying professional journalism at the University of Minnesota.