RS21 at the Maitland Art Center

Audience participation with Selikoff's "Stickpeople"

The group installation, RS21, opened on Friday night at the Maitland Art Center, featuring installations by 15 Central Florida artists.  This installation, which premiered at the Orlando Museum of Art for First Thursdays, will be in the gallery for approximately 6 weeks.

The event was well-attended, with perhaps 300 people enjoying the art, poetry, and music which all tied together to create a unique sense of place at the historic Maitland Art Center.  To paraphrase Andre Smith, the founder of the Research Studio (Maitland Art Center's former name), RS21 took up the challenge to create new visions and to ask some of the important art questions of the day.  In these two realms, RS21 succeeded.

The reception attracted the attendance of both art lovers and artists, all of whom seemed to engage in the artwork at a level usually not seen at art events.  Perhaps because installation art is rare in Central Florida, this show was fresh and interesting; with Therman Statom's work at the Orlando Museum of Art, the rise of installation art in Central Florida is bringing this gallery-specific approach to our region.

Some of the artwork was transported from the OMA show without much alteration into the smaller Maitland Art Center gallery.  Some of the artists, however, saw this new venue as an opportunity to refine their work - some trimming and reducing in size, such as Brigan Gresh and Andrew White's piece, while some, like Sergio Mora, enlarged their work to fill an entire room.

And people engaged in the art!  At all levels, the intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic involvement exceeded the artists' expectations, from anecdotal reports.  From seasoned aesthetes to small children, the installation provided something all too rare in Central Florida - a true art happening.

"These artists show that visual arts matter to this community," stated Maitland Art Center's Program Director, Gloria Capozzi.  The Curator, Richard Colvin, echoed this statement, having participated in the formative discussions of the RS21 group over the past several months.

Born of a core group of 2 or 3 artists who consistently workshopped together last summer, the group grew, and wanted to capture several aspects of the current state of affairs.  As artists were added to the group, it found a stable platform of mutually supportive conversation which allowed their creativity to blossom.  This forum of creative encouragement fed each artist's desire to produce something relating to the discussion.

At one point in the process, Smith's seminal work, "Art and the Subconscious" was rediscovered, and relevant portions of the text were considered, and even read aloud.  This 1937 book was a manifesto of sorts for Smith, who founded the Art Center and brought artists from the Northeast over the winter to make art.  At the time, Freud and Jung's writings were furthering the frontiers of knowledge, and Smith took full advantage of this movement by prodding his artists as much as possible to further the frontiers of creativity.

Today, RS21 has done just that, and their show deserves a look by anyone interested in the next steps of thought and the transformations taking place in our time.  A catalog, written by Mr. Colvin and Egberto Almenas, is also helpful in a reading of the work.  With a longer gallery show, people can take time to visit and return, which is better for the work.  For some art, a quick glance will suffice; for RS21's installation, more and more exposure deepens the understanding.

"Conversation with Andre" by Kyle

The artists themselves will participate in a panel discussion at 2pm Saturday, June 6, at the Maitland Art Center.  The Art Center may be virtually visited at www.maitlandartcenter.org, or physically visited at 231 W. Packwood Avenue, Maitland, Florida 32751.