Art exhibit showcases symbolism in paintings

Denise Cameron
Tue, 03 Nov 2020 01:51:02 +0000
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Brandt-Robert’s Galleries new exhibit focuses on the symbolism featured in the artists’ work. Credit: Courtesy of Michelle Brandt

Brandt-Robert Galleries is inviting viewers to think beyond reality with their new feature exhibit, “Suggestion, That is the Dream.”

The exhibit, showcased both virtually and in person for free at Brandt-Robert Galleries from Nov. 6 through Dec. 4, will feature three artists — Jason Morgan, Bernard Palchick and Talle Bamazi — all of whose work incorporates symbolism for viewers to interpret.?

Michelle Brandt, owner and director of Brandt-Roberts Galleries, said she came up with the title for the exhibition based on a poem that seemed to describe the symbolism present in the artists’ work.

“I came across a poem by a French poet and he said to name an object is to suppress orders of the enjoyment to be found in the poem, which consists in the pleasure of discovering things little by little, so suggestion that is the dream,” Brandt said.?

Brandt said when you look at the artists’ work, it’s not necessarily literal — it’s up to the viewers to make interpretations.?

“Some artists decide to depict things very literally. Perhaps it’s a still life, perhaps it’s a landscape, but all three of these artists, they don’t,” Brandt said. “So the piece really isn’t just necessarily about the woman sitting there, it’s actually about what is she holding that is symbolic to perhaps her culture or her situation.”

The gallery brought these artists together because they all use symbolic imagery, Brandt said.?

Morgan juxtaposes intimate objects together to tell a story and he uses magical realism, Brandt said. There is an immediate response to his artwork because it’s very colorful and vivid, she said.

Bamazi, an African artist who resides in Columbus, depicts the calabash fruit in almost all of his work. Calabash has a very spiritual and cultural significance in West Africa and Bamazi uses it in his body of work very ethereally, Brandt said.?

Palchick, a former professor and art teacher who taught sculpture, ceramic, drawing and paintings for 25 years, is

Credit: Courtesy of Michelle Brandt

fascinated with birds and what they symbolize, Palchick said.?

Palchick will have five art pieces displayed in the showcase that took about two years to create, he said.?

“I’ve done other things along the way, some of which are currently hanging in the gallery, but this particular body of work has gone on since 2018,” Palchick said. “I’ve been involved in it on and off and it’s not just sort of one after the other. I’ll do one and then I might go off and work on some other paintings and then come back to this idea of symbolism in the work.”?

Palchick said he hopes the viewers will connect to their own experiences and sensibilities and feel the certain kind of mystery that he’s incorporated into his work. The symbolism isn’t about straightforward descriptions of objects, Palachick said.??

“Even though I’m a representational painter, the combination of the objects and the placement of the objects in space and things like that add mystery to the meaning of things that we might see every day,” Palchick said.

The virtual exhibit will be available to guests on the gallery’s website. It will be available for in-person viewing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1-5 p.m. by appointment, according to the gallery’s website. On Nov. 14, there will be an artist talk for the artists in the showcase to discuss their artwork and answer questions facilitated by Brandt.?