Art Review: Barber Shares Perspective on Thalia Rodgers at The Union
Multiple pieces by Thalia Rodgers/Photo: The Union for Contemporary Art
Take it from me, Robert Colescott would be proud, if not of the content then its application, if neither then surely from vocality. Thalia Rodgers’ debut solo exhibition at The Union for Contemporary Art, You Make My Heart Smile But You Also Make My Eyes Cry, is a road trip into mood. No doubt this exhibition is a great addition to all that is happening to keep the city warm this winter. Immediacy and disregard seem to be the fuel powering this blatant campaign for authenticity. The authorship and proficiency of the artist’s hand suggest that we get on board now.
A similar affront of idiosyncrasy can be seen in the current exhibition at The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts by Jillian Mayer. It is as if Rodgers and Mayer spent all of 2019 planning to simultaneously inundate Omaha with their heartstrings. If you enjoyed Mayer's expeditious landscape paintings, then you will be enamored with Rodgers’ figuration. Throughout the exhibition, Rodgers is consistent in style and concept. There is a sense of time being circumvented all over, it is as if the artist gave physical chase toward something when creating the work. It can be clocked by following the adept mark-making all through the exhibition. I suggest you start with This Dream Is Telling You To Take A Shower, a small work on acetate. Should you accept the challenge, time may cease en face of Road Trip 1. Somehow the artist packed this mix medium work on canvas, with enough emotional innards to script a thrilling rom-com. The piece is pulsating with narrative and shows extreme care for the painterly surface, all of which nearly animated me onto the moon.
How cartoonishly playful can one be before being taken less seriously? I am guessing artist Thalia Rodgers is bent on resurrecting the Colescott’s and Philip Guston’s of the art world to find out. Regardless, the culmination of the works within You Make My Heart Smile… instilled in me the belief that it is okay not to know the answer to the previous question. This is most exemplified by the installation set in the southeast corner of the gallery. There you will find several drawings conversing among one another, an idea much closer to the ground than any other work presented in this courageous exhibition. But do not take my words for it. Journey in tandem to the artwork of Thalia Rodgers at the Union for Contemporary Art in North Omaha. It just might make your heart smile.
The exhibition is on view through March 14, 2020.
The Wanda D. Ewing Gallery | Union for Contemporary Art | Tuesday 2 - 6 pm, Wednesday - Friday 12 - 6 pm, and Saturday 10 am - 5 pm | u-ca.org/exhibition
This is our first Art Review featuring local artists reviewing their peers. This feature was written by Barber.
Graduating Cum Laude in the MFA program at the University of Iowa, Barber uses interdisciplinary art practices to articulate various testimonies within and surrounding Black America. Most recent scholarships include 2019 MAP Fund grant recipient, fellowship at Fontenelle Forest, The Union for Contemporary, Stanley Grant award from the University of Iowa, Alonzo Davis Award from Virginia Center for Creative Arts.