photo: David Olsen
On the morning of Sat, Jan 8, Terry Etherton was preparing for the opening of a new show – Flesh, Bone, Spirit – that was set to take place at his art gallery that evening.
By 10:30 a.m., however, Etherton was “glued to CNN,” waiting for the latest word on the status of shooting victim and close friend, Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords.
“We were stunned and paralyzed on a day when we’d normally be running around and getting ready for the opening. When they announced that Gabby had died, I knew I literally wouldn’t be able to do it.”
Like so many others that day, Etherton was at a loss; “business as usual” was impossible, especially when a part of that particular day’s business was to feature an exhibit of photographs of human bones fashioned into images of weapons by Francois Robert.
Flesh, Bone, Spirit had been in the works for about a year, in response to Etherton’s desire to showcase another group of photographs by long-time Etherton mainstay Joel-Peter Witkin.
“We’ve worked with (Witkin) for about 25 years, and have created a bit of an audience here for his work,” Etherton relates. “He had a lot of new work from Bogota and we figured it was time to do another show with him.”
The Witkin pieces in the exhibit are taken from his Bogota series and draw inspiration from Mexican retablos, devotional or prayer paintings that use iconography from religious art. Lavishly executed nudes are posed in starkly baroque settings, providing a back story that Witkin imbues with a sense of weird antiqueness through his elaborate photographic printing technique.
The exhibit also features photographs by Francois Robert from his series “Stop the Violence.” These images employ a disarticulated human skeleton reassembled into representations of guns, missiles, fighter jets, grenades and the like. They evoke a visceral reaction to the gravity of effect that human-made weaponry has on humanity itself. On Jan 8, the day of the opening, the large, forbidding images would be especially challenging and unsettling to view.
Over 100 pieces of ceremonial tribal sculpture, masks and objects from Papua, New Guinea complete this powerful show, provided by collectors Ron Perry and Carolyn Leigh of Art-Pacific.
“The photography and the New Guinea stuff just look great together,” Etherton offers. “Visually it all works well together – there are a lot of overlapping themes and concerns in the work.”
During the course of that Saturday on Jan 8, the chaos gave way to some solid information on Congresswoman Giffords.
“We decided to go ahead with the opening when we found out she made it out alive,” Etherton recounts. “In retrospect, I’m really glad we didn’t cancel it. It was one of the biggest openings we’ve ever had – over 400 people came out. There was a palpable energy in the air. It was kind of like a big therapy session.”
Witkin, according to Etherton, “was thrilled with the audience’s reception to his work.” Francois Robert responds that he “was very happy to see so many people willing to turn off their televisions on such a tragic day and step out of their homes.”
The opening and continuing exhibit – which is on display through Sat, March 26 – is a stunning example of what art is supposed to do: help us examine our human state of being, and in so doing, help us come more deeply into our humanity, together.
Etherton Gallery is located upstairs at 135 S. 6th Ave., online at EthertonGallery.com and by phone, 624-7370. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 5pm. View more of Francois Robert’s work at FrancoisRobertPhotography.com; Art Pacific is online at Art-Pacific.com.
