For the last month, the two-person exhibition “Kindred Spirits” has transformed part of the Carbondale Arts Gallery into an artistic representation of deep, lasting friendship.
Ceramic artist Christine Anderson and abstract painter Benjamin Strawn have been friends since meeting as students at the University of Denver more than 40 years ago. From April 17 to May 21, their work has displayed together in Carbondale in their firstr two-person exhibition.
“I TAed with him, and thought the world of his mother; the whole family is so creative,” Anderson told the Post Independent. “His mom was in the sculpture department with me, and we were making steel sculptures. I’d been in the studio and he wandered in and we just connected.”
Their work has helped the two stay connected despite fluctuations in locations, jobs and relationships.
“We’ve had periods of time for years that we were kind of disconnected, but we were roommates for a while, we hung out in Denver when I was there, a lot, and then (Strawn) moved to Salida,” Anderson said. “I visited a little bit, but pretty much we are connected by the phone and taking screenshots of our work and commenting that way.”
Both prolific artists, Anderson and Strawn originally wanted to show their work in both rooms in the Carbondale Arts Gallery. But when they were approached by Carbondale Arts personnel with the idea of exhibiting in one room of the gallery, they agreed.
“I got a lot of comments about how good our stuff looks together and there is a natural connection between us and the kind of work we do,” Strawn said. “It all works playing off each other really, really well.”
Both classify themselves as abstract artists who enjoy experimenting with shape and color.
Anderson’s ceramic sculptures show the scars of their creation. They are “a response to the current social and political climate, it’s chaotic and it’s tragic, and in the studio I respond to that by dissecting forms, sewing them, breaking them, rebuilding them,” she said. “It’s like a metaphor of what’s going on.”
Some of her sculptures, named “Party Vessels,” playfully comment on how cell phones feed into social isolation.
“You take a picture of your dinner and you show it to someone, and so I made objects that change the way we share food,” Anderson said. “Instead of passing the food to someone, not really engaging with that person, I make these vessels on wheels that you can pull across or push across the table.
“They wiggle, and they wobble, they have propellers and ladders, and all kinds of things,” she added. “So it encourages people to get involved with these crazy vessels, and they also get involved with the people themselves.”
While Anderson’s sculptures occupied the center of the exhibition room, Strawn’s abstract paintings lined the walls.
Many of his works visually encapsulate the action of unfolding cardboard boxes.
“I think five of the paintings in the show in Carbondale are structurally based on cardboard boxes and taking apart cardboard boxes, and looking at those shapes and reproducing those forms with panels or canvas,” Strawn said. “Three or four have a vertical format, which reflects Oriental vertical scroll paintings.”
The exhibition creates a dialogue that clearly highlights the differences and similarities between the work of two artists whose lives have intertwined for decades.
“The dialogue between gesture and color and structure is very strong in both of our works — thinking about positive and negative space, the flow of shapes, and colors, and lines,” Anderson said.
Anderson and Strawn hope the exhibition in Carbondale will be the first of many joint showings.
“I don’t think we’ve ever really shown together, so it’s been a blessing and a joy and a reconnection for us in the midst of the world and life and other things happening in our personal lives,” Strawn said. “I think it’s been nice to come together and connect with ‘Kindred Spirits.’”
“It kind of brings tears to my eyes,” Anderson added. “I feel honored to be with Ben and I love him, and I love his work, and I love our history, which is over 40 years.”
No Comment! Be the first one.