Hagedorn Gallery Visit

The visit provided a review of two artists, Peter Bahouth and Matthew Gamber.

Point number one:

 The insight into Hagedorn's history and general business practice shed light on to the commercial relevance of marketing and presenting new works of art for purchase. From the business side they are aware of their market demographic, both of economic affluence and geographic location. Even though they are set up as a not-for-profit gallery, they still have bills to pay. And herein lies the difference between a museum and a gallery. If an interior designer is shopping for a wall piece based on size and color, the art itself and it's intensions, becomes secondary. A sale is a sale, regardless who buys it, and for what reason.

Point number two:

 I found Peter Bahouth's "The Red Planet" to have a playful, children's book sense about it. Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom came to mind, with the perpendicular camera perspective, emulating looking straight down into the opened book while reading. The art direction overall gave a believable sense of accuracy to the (re)creation. Was I impressed? No. Why? Because I lived in that era, and it's not new to me. Does Peter have an integrity of vision and purpose to his work? Absolutely, and I appreciate that more than what I saw.

 Matthew Gamber's "New Takes" was a lil' o' this and a lil' o' that. He'd have been better served by removing the color series and the smaller decorative samples (3D and etched plexi). In doing so, there would have been two sets of stronger, and diametrically opposed work. One side presented very exacting work; graphically composed, very sharp (for the most part) single objects, while the other side was visually, and deliberately, nebulous in execution. Conceptually, both sides seemed to lack a little depth.

 For the viewer, it might seem a bit confusing on how to exactly define what Matthew does (best), and who he is as an artist. Or......or, maybe he was demonstrating his willingness to both control and remove barriers of his creative curiosity. I can appreciate that. That's how we grow as visual artists.

Overall: Eye candy, with a touch of shallowness. Perfect for Buckhead.