Jerome’s emerging five

The Jerome fellowship exhibition, endorsed by artist Jerome Hill, was established to aid in funding the vibrant and developing culture of art by supporting the creation and production of new works by emerging artists. The Foundation gives donations or grants to non-profit art institutions and artists in Minnesota. This particular exhibition held at MCAD showcases the works of five recipients of the $10,000.00 grant. These emerging artists are Susannah Bielak, Amanda Hankerson, Michael Hoyt, Melissa Loop and Lauren Roche. The exhibition includes video, drawings, and performed work by Bielak. Photographs by Hankerson, including a mobile drawing unit designed by Hoyt, mysterious landscapes by loop, and captivating abstracted portraits by Roche.

The 2012/13 winners of the grant seem to have had a clear focus in terms of what they wanted to display and composed their pieces in a fascinating manner. The pieces are very diverse when it comes content as well as media; I would defiantly say that these are defiantly artists to look out for in the near future.
The works that I feel are most representative of this show come from the landscape and portrait paintings composed by Melissa Loop and Lauren Roche. Both painters are considered traditional with their choice medium being oil on canvas. Loop has more of an affinity for painting portraits of amazon like landscapes. She acknowledges her former Hudson River school as being a source of inspiration for her works. Her reliefs inspire one to not only look at the serenity and beauty of the exotic landscapes, but also to realize that these lush lands may have inhabitants. She try’s to capture in her paintings, the inhabitants perspective in the form of the inhabitants looking at the viewer. Her trips to Mexico and Belize inspired much of her work, which is composed of depictions of lush grasslands, villages, and abandoned beach shacks that are representational of exploited land.

An example of such a piece by Loop is The Outsider’s Nostalgic Fantasy 2013. This acrylic, spray paint and pastel work is representational of a tropical island. The island has what looks like palm trees on it, with an object in the middle that resembles a tree house. The background is light blue mimicking the clear blue cloudless sky’s. This painting clearly communicates Loops perspective. The visual is captivating at first glance, but when you draw your eyes to the tree house like figure, it reminds you that this gorgeous habitat has indigenous people living on it.

On the other Hand Roche paints portraits of what appears to be primitive women. Her works display women masked or black faced clutching something In hand. These depictions of women often have a gothic evil look. Her reliefs are created as a therapeutic release. An example of such a work from Roch is the Seated Woman With Stockings, 2013. This acrylic painting is representational of a woman seated on a rock. The woman seems to be distraught and emotional. Her legs are covered in yellow dots and her eyes spew with red tears. The background is a solid dark blue color that represents the darkness of nightfall. Her face is smothered in a brown hue that may be metaphorical for a mask. The woman in the painting seems to be sad and lonely.

Overall I think the exhibition was visually engaging and entertaining at the same time. I would defiantly recommend that other viewer’s attend this exhibition due to the quality of the art that was showcased. The show was successful in promoting new artists and also educating other artists as well as art lovers regarding perspective and how to look at things in a different light. However I think that awarding an emerging artist with a ten thousand dollar grant is a little excessive. Some of the art that was on display in my eyes would not need more than two thousand dollars worth of raw materials to complete. With that being said I do believe that the artists work merits a monetary reward, but a ten thousand dollar grant is pushing it a little bit.