On Thursday, November 9th, I attended the artist talk and reception for Jim Condron's art gallery. It was interesting to see and hear Condron discuss his artwork and listen to what he had to say. At first glance and looking solely at the art gallery, I would have thought that Condron was primarily a sculptor. But in reality, he trained as a painter and claims that he does not know the first thing about sculpture. He even said he feels uncomfortable calling his artwork "sculpture." Condron's art takes everyday, mundane objects and transforms them into something visually interesting and smile-worthy.
When we visited the gallery during class, I had no clue what I was looking at. The pieces did not really connect to their titles and it was hard to derive meaning from them. After hearing Jim Condron talk, I learned that not all of his work is random. His mom is dying from ALS and a few of his pieces are meant to reflect that situation. He keeps a running list of phrases and sentences which he pulls from to title his artwork. He told the audience that he is deliberately unclear so his art is subjective to personal meaning.
It was also interesting to hear Ann Landi, an art critic from New York, speak about Condron's work and the art world today. When asked about Condron's work she said the first thing that comes to mind is "What's going on?!" She told the audience that art journalism is dwindling and people need to work to bring back traditional art reviews in literature. Condron's work is important because it is eclectic and different and is worth writing about.
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