“Introverts Illustrated”
Works by Scott Finch
Baton Rouge Gallery
Baton Rouge
Through Oct. 26
Are you an introvert or extrovert?
As an extrovert with a lot of introverted friends, I was intrigued by Scott Finch’s “Introvert’s Illustrated” exhibit at the Baton Rouge Gallery. Maybe it would elucidate some of my friends’ internal monologue that I find to be largely like a black box.
The exhibit features a 21-part mini-comic series with the same name and pieces from Finch's "Travel Diary” series. Those who visit after seeing online flyers or advertisements might be surprised. While the posters and art featured in promotional materials are full of vibrant, contrasting color, the zine work that makes up most of the exhibit is bold black lines on white paper.
His “Travel Diary” series is filled with color, and the contrasting colors and figures definitely cohere with the rest of the exhibit, but when you walk in, it’s the black and white zine drawings that get you. Unlike the travel series, the zine has text, which a wall panel will tell you is not explanatory, just written intuitively to interact with the imagery.
“It’s autobiographical in an obscure way—like my unconscious making strange commentary on my life,” Finch wrote in an artist statement.
If you’ve only been to Baton Rouge Gallery during events like First Wednesday, when the gallery stays open after hours and there’s free food, wine and live music, the quiet of the space on a normal week day is a stark contrast. The building, tucked into City-Brooks Park, is a contemplative place, perfect for a study break or just walking around.
Finch’s work is particularly suited to this kind of exploration. You can reach out and touch any one of the many binders of work and flip through the zines. It’s not on expensive paper, sometimes you can even see a stray sheet of paper that was torn out of a notebook and pasted onto the bigger piece hanging on the wall.
His work is a rare peek into a mind —-it’s intimate and bizarre like looking in on someone else’s dreams. One sketch features a UFO beaming down at what looks like to be a fox or a dog overlaid with the text, “But now you buy the apocalypse and salvation offered by a cold universe.” Another features a bearded man reminiscent of a Greek god climbing up a machine of some kind paired with the words, “What is he afraid of?”
At first, my brain naturally tried to make sense of these things together, to force a narrative from these images and the words. But that’s not the point.
“These works aren’t puzzles or linear stories,” he wrote in his artist statement for the exhibit. “They’re records of staying present with an image long enough for it to change – and trying to follow where it leads.”
At least part of that destination is inspiration. Seeing Finch’s work makes art feel accessible and interesting to try, even if you don’t have fancy materials.
