Transforming the Ordinary

Exhibition

Exhibition dates: 17 Jan 2022 – 30 Jan 2022

Location: Online Exhibition (US)

Curator

SUE.

Exhibition information

18th Juried Art Exhibition

Welcome to the exhibition!

Exhibition Terms

Transforming the Ordinary Prospectus

“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.”

― Camille Pissarro

While there are many definitions and descriptors for the term “ART,” one that has resonated with me is that art is all about transforming what is mundane and uninspired to something that is beautiful.

Transformation is the operative word. Therefore, in my humble opinion, the infamous “banana taped to a wall” is not art because it did not transform the banana or the tape. It was still merely a banana and tape. As Andre Gide said in The Immoralist, “I have always thought that great artists were those who dared to confer the right of beauty on things so natural that people say on seeing them, "Why did I never realize before that that was beautiful too?”

So my challenge to the world’s artists for this exhibition is to take a single, inanimate, everyday object and transform it into something beautiful. Please be sure your original subject matter fits that category.

In your statement, please provide an explanation of why you selected the particular object and how you now see the beauty in it. Tell me how you conceptualized the term “beauty.”

Curator's Note

I first give thanks to all the artists who submitted entries to the exhibition “Transforming the Ordinary.” Thank you also to People and Paintings Gallery who provides these opportunities for us artists to submit our works for international exposure. I was gratified by the diverse interpretations of the theme for this exhibition. When several artists took its interpretation far beyond what I had originally conceptualized, I reexamined the word “inanimate” to decide if my personal definition had been too confining. I congratulate the artists who made the concept their own and developed it with their own creativity in so many different directions.

In judging this show, I first looked at the work and its accompanying statement to see if and how the artist made me understand his/her interpretation of the theme “Transforming the Ordinary.” Then I decided if the work had encouraged me to either refine or reimagine my own opinion of “beauty.” Next, as I narrowed the field down further, there were certain entries that just made me think, “Yes, the artist nailed it.” Finally, as I viewed the winning entry, my immediate reaction was, “Wow, a cottonwood seed really is beautiful.” At a deeper level, I understood the quote from Andre Gide in the show’s prospectus: “Why did I never realize before that that was beautiful too?” 
 
The winner of the Curator Award - "A Brief, Delicate, Suspension" by Cheryl Chidester The winner of the Gallery Award - "Shadow" by Tessie The winner of the Popular Vote Award - "Tonic of Life" by hatefulcrawdad 

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