MODERNFORMATIONS PRESENTS:

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:28:08 +0000

“Eyes Right”

New Mixed Media Work by Tate Hudson

ON EXHIBIT UNTIL MAY 18th

Uncle Frank had a ’71 Malibu. Dad took it and painted it red. As far
as I could tell, everything had to be red. Mom taught me to drive in a ’73
Monte Carlo. Always over the line or on the shoulder, that Chevy destroyed
everything in its path. It was a now extinct shade of green, and no match
for Randy Mowder’s metallic blue ’68 Nova or Tim Guzek’s pearl white
Galaxie 500. Guzek had his license in the ninth grade and he’d roll up,
just before first bell of course, with seven or eight of us packed into that
boat. The whole school would watch in envy as we piled out of his glorious
machine. First car was an old hand me down, another Malibu, aptly
named “Grey Ghost.” I left that heap in a ditch one night, never to be seen
again.

Just as the Grey Ghost careened into the ditch, the custom car has
slipped into metaphor…a passing piece of nostalgia that dissolves into a
different breed of vessel. It carries the weight of color and garish power. A
fabricated heritage. A tradition of muscle and hubris with each layer of paint
burying another disgraceful historical epoch. Customs define culture.

Color, dress and ceremony provide initial modes of impression. In
the context of this work, color allows me to focus a conscious memory.
The paint has been stripped away from the car and littered across the
landscape. A new environment is peppered with red for native Americans,
plots of black for slaves and shades of yellow for Vietnamese. I follow the
contours and shapes as they blend and bleed into greed and prejudice.

The celebration of the custom car is a ceremony as powerful as the
seeds of bigotry. And yet, the dizzying reminiscence created by the passing
candy apple red camaro still cranes my neck. In the work, I am able to
assemble awareness, and the onset historical amnesia is foiled. Through
this process of understanding, subjugated cultures become prominent and
the car’s power becomes more vulnerable, less vital, yet still beautiful.

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Tate Hudson, a self taught artist, was born on Portsmouth Naval Base, and spent his childhood bouncing between the rural/backwards hills of West Virginia and the culturally mixed/progressive leaning Norfolk, VA. His unsettling upbringing coupled with the constant exposure to new influence and style helped shape the method in which he works today. Hudson currently lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA, and finds the current comparable to Savannah, GA where he spent eight years immersed in the creative culture.

Hudson’s process involves pouring paint on paper and manipulating form and color. Select pieces are then meticulously assembled on wood to create fantastic landscapes and surreal environments. In most cases, discarded images are added to render scale and narrative.In practice, careful attention is given to reuse and waste. The source paper seems to be an endless roll of brown, discovered in a junk store, to which all diluted, acrylic paint is applied. Most of the wood panels are salvaged and cut to size by the artist. Images are discovered in discarded books, ads, posters, etc.The organic, automatist approach is an abstract means to a narrative end.

Exhibit images courtesy Ian Mesa-Jonassen

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There was a time when you might not have felt safe walking there. There was a time when you might not have found anything you wanted to see there. There was a time when you might have been warned not to go there. Oh my, how times are changing. The place in question is Penn Avenue on the Garfield/Bloomfield line between Negley and Mathilda Avenues and last Friday evening it was buzzing with activity as another rendition of Unblurred sprang from doorways all along the thoroughfare.

As the early evening sun threw long shadows up Penn Avenue towards East Liberty Circle, hundreds of strolling patrons took advantage of dozens of venues that opened their doors to showcase a variety of art, music, food and live performances. And the fun continued well into the night, giving testament to the undeniable fact that another Pittsburgh neighborhood is being transformed and rejuvenated with the help of the local artist community.

Unblurred is a program of the Penn Avenue Arts Initiative and takes place the first Friday night of every month but January. A sampling of June’s offerings included the opportunity to have your portrait sketched by Cara Kleid while assuming your favorite yoga position at Yoga Hive, watch hot glass demonstrations at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, participate in a neighborhood painting party and create decorative boards to cover windows and beautify vacant buildings at the Pittsburgh Beautification Project Studios, and dance the tango at the Law Office of Richard J. Walters and Adjacent Downstairs Artspace. In addition, there was a lot of art to see – from the traditional to the avant-garde, music to hear, and delicacies to consume – mixed throughout a multitude of galleries, shops, restaurants and interstices. (A list of Penn Avenue attractions is available here.)

The crowd that flowed up and down the sidewalks was as varied as the artwork – as diverse as the city itself. People of different ages, races, sexes and styles moved easily among each other, sharing space, laughs and surprises. From mothers pushing strollers to seniors pushing walkers, from college students to union workers – all were there, all were welcome, all were having fun. There were even a couple of people from Cleveland and nobody seemed to mind.

The Penn Avenue Arts Initiative was created in 1998 by Friendship Development Associates in collaboration with the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation. The PAAI’s mission is to revitalize the Penn Avenue Corridor by using the arts to enhance public perception of the district, instill pride in the neighborhood, and foster community ties. Their objectives include increasing the number of artists who live and work in the area, supporting the purchase and renovation of property to make them more accessible to artists, marketing the area to artists and arts-related activities, and empowering local youth by having artists engage them in meaningful art projects.

Friendship Development Associates is a non-profit community development organization whose mission is to revitalize the Friendship neighborhood. FDA works to improve the housing stock, provide high-quality affordable housing to low/moderate income households and develop commercial buildings. Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the social, economic and physical fabric of the Bloomfield, Garfield and Friendship neighborhoods by engaging and inspiring members of those communities. BGC strives to motivate people to revitalize the physical environment, improve the economy and strengthen the social well-being of their neighborhoods.

With many warm First Friday Nights ahead, why not head out to a part of town where your mother might have once told you not to go? Maybe you’ll find a new favorite place to eat, or buy a book, or take a walk, or take a class, or just hang out. You’re bound to see something new. You may even be part of its creation.

Modernformations

MODERNFORMATIONS PRESENTS:

“Eyes Right”

New Mixed Media Work by Tate Hudson

ON EXHIBIT UNTIL MAY 18th

Opening every first Friday of the month, 7 to 10pm, with “Unblurred” on Penn Avenue!

Penn Avenue Arts District is Unblurred

June 1st 2012:

August 3rd 2012:

September 7th 2012:

October 5th 2012:

November 2nd 2012:

Hello world!