Videos and Derrick

Last Thursday night I attended the art opening that coincided with Indie Memphis at Playhouse on the Square. There were mainly video pieces, some were projected a block down the road onto the windows of the empty Yosemite Sam’s building and there were others in one of the ballet studios. I really liked the videos projected on the abandoned building; Michael Perry (Peery?) also did a sound piece in the upper floor with the windows open so you could see him playing. He was kind of creepy looking up there all alone, but it was a good addition and made it more enjoyable for the viewer who had to stand in the chilling wind to watch. My main qualm with the videos outside was that the location was a bit awkward for getting foot traffic actually wanting to view the piece. The videos were all very different, and good from what I could tell, though I found it hard to concentrate while I was so cold. The videos inside were definitely more comfortable to view, there were strange chairs made of tires and Adam Farmer had some tunes playing. I find that I’m not a huge fan of video work in general (sorry Dwayne) I want them to move linearly because it is a video, but they rarely do, or I just tire of it before the film is over because I spy something across the room that I would rather look at. Pitiful, I know, but I surely can’t be the only one like this. The 2D work that was outside the ballet studio I found to be rather awkward. I don’t know how it was chosen, but there were only a few pieces and they weren’t thematically related in any way. I also just didn’t find them to be of the same caliber of the video work.

Derrick Dent, a talented alum, also has a small show up at Caritas Village. I am very familiar with his work having pretty much lived with him for a year, and I always love seeing his process and finished work. He has a couple sketchbooks up which put me to shame, and a number of illustration projects, which he shows the start to finish process of. I think it is up for a month, go by and take a look, and check out his blog, too.