Show 29 at The Front
By S. Scarlett Moberly
The smallest state capital in the U.S., Montpelier, Vermont’s population hovers just below 8,000. Its size however does not reflect Montpelier’s cultural gravity, serving as a hub for the many artists in the city and surrounding area. Think twice before passing by en route to more well-known cities and ski destinations to the north and south. Montpelier has much to offer in the way of culture, including quality galleries and artist studios.
Crossing the Winooski River, one lands squarely in downtown Montpelier. There are shops aplenty along Main Street, so it would be easy enough to pass by Barre Street. However, just up this side street is The Front, a contemporary art space tucked into a narrow storefront. The gallery space is quite small, only a couple of hundred square feet, yet there is room enough for 20 member-artists to each display a work or two. An artist-run cooperative gallery, The Front does not organize exhibitions based on theme or media, but simply numbers their group shows in which each member chooses what they will exhibit. Far from jumbled, the result is streamlined. The illusion of single-minded curation nods to the strength of each artist’s work individually, and to the mechanisms of the group as a whole.
Show 29, on through January 20, exhibits the range of the members’ talents, and proves an individualistic and contemporary mindset among all. There is the amusing, such as Fish Fish Fishes by co-founder Glen Coburn Hutcheson, a monochrome stencil painting which successfully plays with size and negative space; the lovely, in Double Negative by Alice Dodge, a punchy diptych that peers through vibrant tropical foliage towards a baby-blue sky; and the textural, like Ready to Jump by Hasso Ewing, a plaster sculpture of a bathing-costumed and swim-capped individual clutching an inner tube, about to fly from its diving board perch mounted some two feet above eye level.
Chris Jeffery, Blue Infinity Box, 2018, wood, fluorescent paint, UV light. Photo by the author.
The beguiling Blue Infinity Box by Chris Jeffrey first appears to be a well-crafted wooden box solidly situated atop a chest-height plinth. Its plainness from the approach however is almost interactive, as one instinctively knows there must be more. Rounding the perimeter of the plinth to solve this unspoken riddle, the author wondered what she might find. Would it be a shadowbox in the vein of Joseph Cornell, or a more like one of Frances Glessner Lee’s doll-sized dioramas? The answer is both and neither. Contained within this vessel is a glimpse into an alternate universe. Stacked in the center is a pyramid of fluorescent blue squares, part alien, part Mesoamerican. Bathed in UV light, the pyramid is reflected in the mirrors that line the sides and bottom of the box, repeating different perspectives of the otherworldly visage into eternity. Hovering above the pyramid is the light source, a halo of violet circles not unlike sci-fi illustrations of the lights from alien aircraft. Without any interpretation provided, the visitor is left to her own devices to decide the artist’s intent. Is this a commentary on the origins of our planet, akin to the legends of ancient societies interacting with extraterrestrials, or is this simply an exercise in light, space and form? Fans of Ancient Aliens will certainly lean one way, cynics, the other.
Hannah Morris, Latecomer, 2018, gouache and paper collage on board. Photo by the author.
Across the gallery from Blue Infinity Box, the thirteen collaged figures of Hannah Morris’s Latecomer idle around an outdoor table, waiting for a family meal. One peeks through a window on to the scene, as if to check if there’s been any progress. Although none make eye contact with the viewer, there is an unspoken invitation to join the party. The white linen table set with mismatched bowls and crowned with flowers slants out of the foreground, cropped by the frame of the painting, as in a Cezanne or Van Gogh still life. The perspective alludes to the possibility that it is in fact the viewer that is the latecomer, and at any moment the characters will look up and cheer one’s arrival. One just hopes to be wearing vertical stripes, as almost half the figures do. Despite the monochromatic dress code, each figure’s personal style is evident, and one can tell this is a fun bunch.
The Front is just the latest iteration of an arts space at 6 Barre Street. Hutcheson first operated an individual studio and display space in the location in February 2013, using space in the back to create and showing his own work in “the front” (undoubtedly the punny source of the gallery’s name). He was joined soon after by several studio partners, including artists Shamus Langlois and Abigail Feldman, who took charge of the exhibition space and dubbed it gallery SIX. After several well-received exhibitions, Feldman and Langlois left in April 2015 to pursue personal projects, and gallery SIX rebranded under Hutcheson – with the help of a new crop of artist friends – as The Front a month later. Now 20 members strong, the group shares financial, administrative and staffing responsibilities and rewards. “Artists want exposure and interaction – at least some artists, sometimes,” said Hutcheson. This inclusive attitude trickles down to Hutcheson’s pricing scheme for his works, noted on the wall text for Fish Fish Fishes as “$8 x your hourly wage or 0.004 x your yearly income.”
Upon entering The Front, one senses the unexpected magic of peering into a jewel box. This feeling is heightened by the lateness of the gallery’s Friday evening hours, 4-7 p.m., during which the author visited the space this winter. As darkness falls outside, the glowing windows of The Front beckon and inside, its art-lined walls inspire a shrine-like reverence. Like a jewel box, the space is a constant source of value to Montpelier, which, as Hutcheson noted, is curiously devoid of contemporary galleries despite the number of artists living and working in the area. Aware of its role, The Front acknowledges in its mission the drive “to both support its individual members as well as provide rich artistic experiences for the larger community.” As founding member Ellen Cheney shared, “We all want what is best for each other, as well as the gallery. Our group is personal, meaning we all work better when we work closely together. We constantly have the community in mind, with everything we do.”
Show 29 is on through January 20, 2019 at The Front, open Fridays, 4-7 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays, 11-5 p.m. at 6 Barre Street, Montpelier, VT.