Summer exhibition essay

"Small Gestures" series by Tyler Calkin-Low, "Outer Wilderness" drawing by Claire Scully, "Swinge Whip" mixed media on canvas by Rachel Stiff

EYE Want Candy

Essay by Teri Barnes

The exhibition EYE Want Candy at Melhop Gallery º7077 is a scintillating collection of artworks with themes of obsession, desire, and memory coated in bright hues to entice its audience. Yet this brightness hides some of the darker themes running through the work – from responding to the pandemic and loss of connection, to toxic air from wildfires all around. From food to nature to abstract objects, the exhibit is perfect for late summer gazing and longing, as well as contemplation over the last two years.

Entering the gallery, we are greeted with examples of otherworldly creations and obsessive art practice. Claire Scully’s piece, “Outer Wilderness” invites us to imagine a landscape like none we have seen before, with saturated tones of red and voluptuous tentacles. Scully creates imaginary planets and botanical specimens in her latest work, showing us her version of a universe where perhaps we are not alone. Tyler Calkin-Low’s “Small Gestures” and “Big Social Process” seem like they might occupy that same strange landscape, but they have such a human backstory. These works are created by mapping human hug interactions, with Calkin-Low making a 3D print of that movement to create each abstract piece. When covid was at its worst and social distancing was required, hugs seemed more like harm than care, but we longed for that interaction and connection. These gestures are poignant in their meaning and are imbued with playfulness and vibrancy. Adding figures to this strange utopia is Stewart Easton with his piece, “Man and His Creation,” where patches of embroidered color tell another story of an invented world. Like Calkin-Low, Easton’s work also revolves around connection, here showing results from a live Instagram sewing circle during covid lockdown – bringing together people from around the world, using the Buddhist Lojong practice to meditate on color and breathing. By setting focus on stitches, Easton sought to ease the tension and stress lockdown put on the community. Galen Brown’s “Untitled” series shows that obsession in practice can also produce meditative, calming results. Each repeating line vibrates with varied intensity – from soft pastel colors against black like a Licorice-Allsort candy of the top work, down to bold clash in the bright pink and green of the bottom piece.

In the small alcove off the main space, we find an example of memory of traumatic events in Julia Schwadron Marianelli’s piece “Weather Comes to You.” Reflecting on the fires that ravaged Lake Tahoe and forced evacuation from her home in Summer 2021, Marianelli’s painting disguises the damaged forest with flora and fauna that have regenerated or that fell and carpeted the area. Josh Galarza also employs nature in his piece “Forbidden Fruits (Orthorexia),” but with a tongue-in-cheek delivery. (“Orthorexia is the unhealthy focus on eating in a healthy way.” (WebMD)). Galarza’s “Virulent Vineyards” seed packets locked in their plastic bio-hazard boxes are both inviting – who wouldn’t want to plant these special art seeds, and cautionary – could something bad happen if we DID plant these seeds? We take all kinds of supplements and vitamins for vitality, but many times we look past the side effects of all these unnatural contents – they could be doing more damage than good. Continuing the idea of strange landscapes are Carrie Lederer’s pieces, “Nicotiana in the Cosmos, I and II”. The flowers and leaves in her paintings seem familiar, yet the space-like background or deep microscope organisms with unfamiliar textures and unnatural colors make the scene hard to place and feel like toxic versions to steer clear of. Another Stewart Easton embroidered work “Aura,” feels like this figure would be at home in these strange lands depicted in this small space.

In the side hallway we find a series of mixed-media pieces by Lexa Walsh titled “Taking One for the Team.” These brightly colored “medals” take on the idea of longing to come in first place to win the trophy or ribbon to proudly display for all to see. Walsh grew up as the non-sporty one with 15 siblings in the house, so being the artist of the bunch, she created her own ribbons and accolades, showing that we still yearn for recognition. Multiple abstract embroideries by Stewart Easton also line the hall – each creating a narrative of whimsy, distracting from the persistence of covid lockdown while bringing calmness against the fear. Near the end of the hall is another Marianelli painting, “Disturbed Sites.” This painting depicts the remnants of the fire retardant used to put out the fires from above during 2021’s wildfires in the lake Tahoe region. The bright orange of the flame retardant becomes overwhelming to the forest floor beneath. Pairing well with the juxtaposition of planes doing harm while also doing good, (saving homes, lives, and ecosystems), is the video piece by Jean Brennan, “Pollen.” This mesmerizing slow-motion recording of pollen puffing up out of the branches, a forced pollination of an endangered species of dwarf pine tree while military aircraft fly practice deployment and attack runs overhead, speaks to how man can both help nature – by shaking the pollen loose to help the bees and birds spread life, and harm – the sound barrier being broken directly overhead as well as the fuel and carbon emissions that planes give off that hurt the environment.

In the back portion of the gallery, we find food – beautiful, candy-colored, glorious food. Eunkang Koh’s series “Desire: Sweets I Dream” makes our mouths’ water with visions of sweets and pastries of all varieties. The intricate details and sumptuous colors make gluttony look less like a sin and more like a great time. But, not everyone can eat such treats – with gluten allergies and sugar addiction rampant, many people cannot eat these sweet treats without getting sick. And we all learned that too much of a good thing can be bad for us. Betsy Enzensberger’s resin popsicles look like you could eat them, which belies the toxic nature of working with resin itself. These perfect summer specimens ooze (literally) child-like appeal and tasty goodness. The mysterious quality of Jennifer Garza-Cuen’s “Lumen” series balances out the overt desire of food with the desire of femininity. The soft pinks in the series create a soft noir where we long to know more about the subject or object of focus. Using expired photographic paper, folded and creased into intimate envelopes, Garza-Cuen exposed the paper to the sun, creating mysterious soft abstract lumen prints. Frances Melhop’s series of “Whisper Portraits” also speak to the lore of femininity in the iconic dress, with abstracted figures inhabiting that ideal. Pink becomes less mysterious here and more charged with the history of the abused women photographed by Donna Ferrato in the 60’s and 70’s. These works are a response to Ferrato’s series acquired by the Lilley Museum.  These monotype “portraits” are also multi-layered, allowing for surprise with each new iteration – like the “whisper game,” you never know what the final version will be. Kelly Popoff’s series “A Memoir” is also charged with history, only it is her own history mined for visual reference. Painting memories from childhood we find a different version of longing and desire – one that makes details fuzzy and monochromatic, a nicotine-stained palette of the 40’s and 50’s, and a child’s questioning of the unknown and misunderstood adult goings-on. Popoff shares her dark recollections of a religious family and rituals, that when one can only see at belt-level, remains a mystery in memory.

EYE Want Candy is full of desire, obsession, and memory, with dark undertones and covid lockdown history – and we are invited to visit strange landscapes, taste sweet treats, or bask in the brightly colored world Melhop Gallery º7077 has created for us, with a reminder that every story has two sides, whether we choose to see the candy-coated version, or the sharp-edged reality is up to us.

Aura from the Lojong series, 24” x 20.8” 2018-2019, cotton thread on canvas by Stewart Francis Easton + Nicotiana in the Cosmos, I and II, Acryla Gouache on paper, 10” x 10” 2021 by Carrie Lederer

TERI BARNES

short bio

Teri Barnes is a 4th generation Northern Nevada artist who works with various mediums, including ceramics, photography, and printmaking. She uses abstraction and patterns to bring texture and visual interest to her work and shares her vision of the details in our daily lives that viewers might normally overlook. Teri received a Master of Fine Arts degree at Sierra Nevada University in 2021 and received both a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with ceramics emphasis and BA in photography at The University of Nevada, Reno in 2017 and 2013 respectively. Teri currently teaches ceramics at Western Nevada College and The University of Nevada, Reno.

Instagram: @barnesteri.