2012 Emerging Artists from UC/DAAP

Annually, junior and senior art majors from local universities, representing the next generation of artists to emerge on the local art scene, are nominated by their professors, juried by SFC and are afforded the opportunity to exhibit their work among their peers. 

A continuing partnership with the Malton Gallery offers the students an opportunity to visit a professional gallery and get a hands on Q & A with the gallery owner on professional practices.  And NEW in 2011, the Malton Gallery awarded two (2) Gallery Choice awards, presented at the Opening Reception. 

In addition to the two Gallery Choice Awards, Summerfair Cincinnati (in 2011) implemented a new scholarship of one (1) $1,000 Purchase Award.  Selected by a jury of professional working artists, the selected artwork will hang on permanent display in the SFC Gallery. 

The following three (3) students were juried in from a list of nominees presented by our fourth participating school;  University of Cincinnati / DAAP:

Anjali Alm-Basu

Anjali is a senior.  Her work is split evenly between Net art and drawing. She recently co-curated a group show at Prairie Gallery, and will be showing a video piece at the Grimmuseum in Berlin at the beginning of December. A multiracial child of the 90s, she holds a vague nostalgia for Mark Knopfler and pickled herring.

Artist Statement:

Are there paparazzi for Internet celebrities?

My most current work deals with these little flashes into the lives of Internet celebrities (or even just people I find making videos on the internet that are not quite internet-famous yet). These include: Onision, Cyr, Ray William Johnson, Elmify, LiveLavaLive, glowpinkstah, ViHart, and others.

…I am a little obsessed with YouTube.

I have always been a bit of a voyeur. In this era of the Internet, “facebook-stalking” someone is an acceptable way to get to know someone surreptitiously. Anonymous “followers” can “like” or “reblog” any image I put up on a tumblr, without consent or really any connection to me at all, and I can do the same to them.  Despite all that, it is still a little weird to admit my obsession, since the people making videos and baring parts of their lives to the world almost daily on YouTube are not even technically “famous.” Back in the day, girls had crushes on the members of N*Sync and Uncle Whats-his-name from Full House. I have a little crush on a bearded guy who lives in Chicago and makes videos of himself and his “clones” having adventures in and around his apartment. He has a couple thousand subscribers, but I am willing to bet that most people still have not heard of WheezyWaiter (or Craig Benzine, which is his non-internet name).

I am fascinated by the character WheezyWaiter, which is a little silly (he fights an animation of an eagle and reads the news by making words explode), but am almost more fascinated by those little flashes of Craig Benzine I can sometimes see shining through. Occasionally he will post bloopers where he drops character and cracks up at something, or reacts to noises outside the apartment that renders that particular footage unusable for the main video. That glimpse into the life of someone else, into the living space and “true” identity of that person, is irresistible to me.

When I find that crack in the internet-persona, the insight into the “real” person behind the video, I take a screenshot. The photograph resulting is a snapshot (in the same genre as a Polaroid or a similar, intuitive, instantaneous form of image capture) of that person’s life, Internet or “real.”

Some of the screenshots culled out of the hundreds I take are chosen because they communicate a feeling of intimacy, perhaps even to the point of discomfort in some instances. Sometimes YouTube provides too much insight to the lives of complete strangers, and those instances of discomfort are fertile territory for anyone with a voyeuristic streak.  Other screenshots have been chosen because they do the exact opposite: they show the characters, the costumes, the skits, the acting, the little shows put on by everyday people for the entertainment of total strangers, usually for no monetary gain (and only comments and pageviews to show for it). The outrageous personalities floating around on the Internet are sometimes hard to believe (and yet, some seem so crazy that one cannot be sure if it really IS an act). These screenshots explore the spectrum of “crazy” to “normal” and question, at the same time, which one is which.

Jessie Rienerth

Jessie Rienerth is in her fourth year of receiving a Bachelors of Fine Arts and has been actively showing her work around the Cincinnati area. Her work has included a variety of media and installation techniques, as well as collaborative efforts. After graduation, Jessie hopes to participate in an artist residency before she a ttends graduate school for a Masters in Art Therapy.

Artist Statement:

My work investigates the significant, yet transient, human connections that cease to form lasting bonds. I develop a similar relationship with materials by treating the chosen media as a tool to be examined and manipulated, then either discarding or returning to it at a later endeavor. Emphasizing process, reflection, and expression, the result becomes secondary. More important is the time and effort put into the creation. The work explores a myriad of tedious surface treatments speaking to an obsessive need to produce and be independently industrious. My current body of ceramic work focuses on the lack of producing sentiment in romantic relationships. The concentrated attention to craft accuses self- sufficiency for laborious attempts at creating enduring attachments to others (be it romantic, or not).

Simone Westerkamp

Simone is a graduate of the School for Creative and Performing Arts in downtown Cincinnati. She is currently earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, majoring in Fine Arts, her concentration lies in ceramics and mixed media.

Artist Statement:

In every process of becoming, there is a process of decaying. My work explores the possibility of stopping something – an object, a memory – in its process of becoming, and preserving that fragile moment before the decay sets in. Scientifically, the more times a memory is recalled, the less true it becomes. Therefore, I strive to create pieces that embody personal memories in a way that allows me to view and recall them in the purest manner. While creating my work, I aim to distill memories down to their purest, most essential form and investigate the tenuousness of the resulting object. Though the meanings are not straightforward, my work seeks to evoke a sense of relatable nostalgia in any viewer, drawing forth a yearning for a past time.

Process and materials are as important to my work as the final piece; personal, subconscious revelations often arise in the course of making. My work often involves a meditative, repetitive process - this deep contemplation allows the ideas to become woven into every aspect of the resulting work. The materials I choose lend certain qualities to the overall concept of my pieces as well; the tactile feeling of the wet clay and the heady aroma of beeswax remind me of my childhood. The varying opacity of wax resembles the act of recollection itself – peering within in order to retrieve.  Melted beeswax remains malleable until it has hardened; then, a literal barrier, a shelter, has been created between the memory and the intrusions of the world. I am intrigued by the complexities of porcelain –although it is seemingly fragile, it is a ceramic of great strength. Its material purity evokes a notion of innocence. The sensory nature of my materials allows me to be physically connected with my work throughout the whole process of making. From incorporating fabrics belonging to deceased family members to using materials reminiscent of my childhood, personal memory is infused into every piece. The act of making serves as the act of protecting.