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ALL THAT GLITTERS
FAKTURA GALLERY'S ONE YEAR ANNIVERSAY SHOW FEATURING ALL NEW WORK
BY
JACQUELYN JACKSON JOHNSTON AND ANGELA HELEN ROELL
New Photography by Angela Helen Roell
New Oil Paintings by Jacquelyn Jackson Johnston
MORE IMAGES COMING SOON
PRESS RELEASE
ALL THAT GLITTERS
FAKTURA GALLERY'S ONE YEAR ANNIVERSAY SHOW FEATURING ALL NEW WORK BY
JACQUELYN JACKSON JOHNSTON AND ANGELA HELEN ROELL
Miami – March 2006 – Faktura Gallery presents its one-year anniversary show, “ All That Glitters .” Painter Jacquelyn Jackson Johnston and photographer Angela Helen Roell create a body of work that explores the conceptual implications inherent in many forms of visual consumption, positioning their analysis as an anthropological study into the way visual experiences become commodities.
After a year of being a gallery owner, Johnston's interest in art versus media, the effects of context and art as a participant in a larger system of visual communication has spurred a theoretical exploration of the different ways the audience is trained to pay for visual experiences. Working together with Roell, the two artists present work that redirects the focus away from the standard points of view and methods of viewership usually presented in painting and photography.
On the most basic level, the visual experience as commodity refers to a huge array of visual formats where money is being exchanged for a privileged point of view. Ranging from buying tickets to a museum to advertising to tipping a stripper, these visual experiences are being turned into a product for consumption. While the museum example is obvious, advertising is more complex in that there is a transaction for the ad production, the visual contextualization [space] and the consumption spurred by the visual experience. In this case, the visual experience actually makes the viewer a consumer. Upon closer analysis, Johnston and Roell decide that the stripper example is the most intriguing for the immediacy of consumership and visual commodification. For this reason, much of the work is inspired by the act of placing money on the body for a more privileged visual experience.
By focusing more on back stage portion of the visual experience, All That Glitters also brings to the forefront the shifts in current trends in the public's interest in the position of viewership. Reality TV, for example, has propagated an increasing interest in the rough conditions of what is presented thoroughly polished and prepared for consumption. This type of fascination for the unseen in turn creates another market of visual experience.
All That Glitters combines the traditional presentation of a “free” viewership of artwork in a gallery with the implications of visual experience commodification by inviting the viewers to “tip” the works of art. Featuring art, music and more than a few surprises. Faktura Gallery's one year anniversary is a celebration as well as a conceptual experiment on commodifying art viewership.
Artists Statements- Extended Statements Available upon Request
JACQUELYN JACKSON JOHNSTON- Visual Experience as Commodity
“All That Glitters” is a study of the visual experience as commodity. Most contemporary visual experiences are commodified: admission to a museum, a pass to a park or zoo, a movie ticket, advertisements and even the clothing we buy in order to create our own self-enveloping visual experience. Then there are those visual experiences that are not just commodities for the singular experience, but can be purchased as a whole, to grant the consumer sole viewership, like the price of owning a work of art for a privileged visual experience. By dividing the visual experience as commodity into these two categories, I am intrigued by the various forms of visual demonstration of ownership. I started to think about examples including the placement of a name plaque with the owner's name who has lent a work of art to a museum and the placement of the dollar bill on the body of the stripper.
From a painter's perspective, my paintings are always heavily informed by the idea of demonstrating the painterly break down of color, reminiscent of the way enlarged pixels break down images into blocks of individual color. The paintings in this show have been a natural progression from my interest in revealing the construction of paintings, as seen in my previous series of self-portraits, combined with my growing interest in the cultural developments that lead a visual experience to become a commodity.
ANGELA HELEN ROELL- Exotic Dancers as Merchandise
It's all a sales tactic really. From the moment you walk in the product is vaguely viewable from the door, up on a platform and the first thing to catch your eye after the receptionists massive breasts. To the left of the register are two-for-one Botox coupons, to the right are double book matches with a bleached blonde beauty on the cover—merchandising. The girls dance on stage with a thin elastic ban strapped to their ankle. They gyrate in a slithering sexual way off beat to the strangely inappropriate “Jesse's Girl”; the men step up with an eager hungry look in their eyes and hold out their money to be accepted by the product. In exchange for a few dollar bills, each man is purchasing his moment—his temporary territory on this woman's body. Each man runs a hand over the girls' curves after slipping their money in with the money of the other men. Each moment is bought and paid for.
If you want a lap dance its $10, friction dance $25, the room costs $100 and each additional girl costs $100. When a girl sells you a dance Santino—a bouncer in a three-piece suit with a friendly demeanor as if he has known you for years—conducts the business transaction and the monetary hand off. The girls sit with each customer flirtatiously conversing and trying to up sell the product one more time before the dance begins. The Customer's are hungry for attention and control of these beautiful women. As the dancer sits with a man his hunger is fed slowly and it is easier to convince him to buy more time and have more control, master his domain. Appetites for control are insatiable, it's more than the physical interaction it is the psychological feeding of the ego. Even the women consumers are interested in that shared moment the lingering touch and complacent smile of a beautiful woman can satiate the ego, even if only for a moment.
FAKTS
Faktura Gallery
Faktura gallery, a one-year old gallery enhancing the heart of Little Haiti community with fresh contemporary artists, opens with the “Faktura” show, founded on the belief that current technological revolutions in communication of mechanical reproduction have blurred lines between experimental and exceptional artistic production.
St. Mary's Art District
Located in a row of warehouses previously used as chop shops, three new art spaces open as the beginning of a new art district in Miami. Damian Rojo, an established artist from Los Angeles, presents new video work and photography. White Vinyl opens featuring conceptual work by Miami-based owner Skip Van Cel. Official website up in late March, www.StMarysArtDistrict.com.
Current Artists
Jacquelyn Jackson Johnston, from New York now residing in Miami, is focusing on her large oil self-portraits, while continuing to work in installation, video, photography and performance.
Angela Helen Roell, Miami, photography.
Anthony Mangicapra, Ft. Lauderdale, paintings, installation and music.
Ann Everton, Baltimore, works mainly in digital media, including photography and video.
About the Owner- Jacquelyn Jackson Johnston
Responding to the over-bearing power of media and mass communication, Johnston's work challenges the traditional limits of art display. Whether in paintings, televised videos, poster projects, installations, or performances, her recent work focuses on the communication with , instead of to , the audience. She explains: “To witness art is to personally interact with the medium, while seeing the work is to learn the language of the medium, and to incorporate this new language into the total understanding of communicative possibilities.”
About the Gallery
Hours- Currently by appointment only. Call (305) 758-9005
Located in the hear of St. Mary's Art District, 7128 NW 2 nd Ct. One block west of NW 2 nd Ave and NW 71 st St.
Faktura Projekts is an artist run non-profit that supports art based projects to reach out to and help the community. Projekts include: Pimp My Kart for the homeless, Faktura Pet Projekt, and the soon to be revealed youth outreach program.
Faktura Pet Projekt
Faktura Gallery features dogs in need of homes at many openings, as well as on the website. We are in the process of getting our 501c3 and our official website will be up very soon.
FAKTURA GALLERY PUSHES THE LIMITS OF WHAT AN ART SHOW CAN ACCOMPLISH,
COME SEE WHAT THE NEXT GENERATION OF ARTISTS HAS IN STORE FOR AN ART-AIDED MIAMI.
Faktura Gallery • 7128 NW 2nd Court • Miami, FL 33150 • 305-758-9005
www.FakturaGallery.com • Jacquelyn@FakturaGallery.com • Join our email list
