Surreal Salon 18
Baton Rouge Gallery
Through Jan. 25
Three floral legs burst with pink floral life, meeting at a woman’s face which is also dripping with florals, a figure is rising up out of the floor as if breaking the surface tension of a river, a lone wolf wanders in a red field, seemingly illuminated. These are all pieces featured in the new annual “Surreal Salon” in the Baton Rouge Gallery.
The exhibit is the ramp-up for the annual Surreal Salon Soiree, which features live music, drinks, and over the top costumes which are art in their own right. Surreal Salon is in its 18th year, and this year’s “Surreal Salon” was juried by SWOON (Caledonia Curry) and features over 60 artists.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about Southern Magical Realism these past couple of years,” wrote Swoon in a juror statement. “About the sense that in between the ripples of heat rising off the pavement on a hot day there opens up a space for a wild sort of mystery - one very particular to the American South”.
She believed that “Surreal Salon” would be “a little bit of that same kind of magic.”
The result? What is usually concentrated and themed exhibits on three different artist’s works is now a mishmash of different art styles in vibrant colors with themes ranging from the serious – like a 3D painting “Deconstructed - Flood Control” by Joshua Duncan and Sarah Megan Jenkins. The painting depicts flooding after dams or other flood control mechanisms break down – to the absurd, like the anglerfish shaped disco ball rotating in the middle of the gallery.
“Surreal Salon” is an exhibit that feels like you can see something new every time you circle around the small gallery whether it be a painting that catches the light in a different way or a sculpture that you didn’t see the first time. Walking through makes you feel like something interesting is always around the corner.
The piece I can’t get out of my head is an ornate sculpture that combines the face of a doll with the ornate body of a dragon-like figure, titled “Spirit of the River.” She hangs near the front wall of the gallery in all of her beaded and buttoned glory. She’s gazing toward the art like posh royalty. It reminds me of the faces on Chinese opera dolls. This piece feels like it has motion behind it, like if you were to blink, the dragon lady will have moved, swirling around you, or hiding somewhere in the rest of the strange exhibit. “Surreal Salon” feels like perfect fodder for another “Night at the Museum” style movie. It’s all part of the magic.
