Return to Sender @ Tempus Projects, Part I

Tempus Projects -- a 'project space', not just a gallery -- used to be a two car garage, or part garage and workshop. [Link] For 17 months it has been multitasking. It has hosted work by 75 artists to date. This is about to more than double with the current show, "Return to Sender" which includes one work by each of ninety-four artists. All under the creative directorship of Tracy Midulla Reller, an FSU MFA and HCC Assistant Professor of Art for a decade. She is co-owner along with Ashley Niven.

View of Exhibit and viewers.

This was perhaps the largest, in terms of attendance, of any Tempus show I've been to. The place was packed. With that many artists, it was to be expected. The concept was simple: One hundred and thirty artists were selected and sent an envelope with a 7x7" negative silhouette print as the field on which to execute their art, and they returned the finished piece in the envelope to Tempus. Some of the entries came from as far away as India.



The complete list of artists shown: George Anderton, Kienan James Almeida, Linda Armstrong, The Art Guys, Bradley Arthur, Ariel Baron-Robbins, Neil Bender, Harvey Benschoter, Dylan Berry, Mikel Bisbee-Durlam, George Blakely, Tate Bunker, Roger Chamieh, Jeremy Chandler, Jiarra Chiang, Elisabeth Condon, Jesse Cregar, Suzanne Camp Crosby, Edgar Sanchez Cumbas, Shara DeWitt, David Diaz, William Downs, Ljiljana Edmiston, Lyman Edwards, Erica Ellis, Leslie Elsasser, Sarah Emerson, Zesch Fallon, Cor Andrew Fahringer, Becky Flanders, Kendra Frorup, Ilse Padilla Fisher, Jeff Gibbons, Edward Gillum, Joe Griffith, Daniel Georges, Gregory Green, Scott Groeniger, Allen Hampton, Holly Hanessian, Lisa Harasiuk, Tyler Jopek, Carolina Sardi, Mario Schambon, Don Sizemore, Rebecca Skelton, Ryann Slauson, Alexis Kleinbard, Ina Kaur, Gabriel Kudela, R Land, Robbie Land, Robert Lawrence, Rory Laven, Terri Lindbloom, George Long, Diran Lyons, Ann-Marie Manker, Lynn Manos, Cynthia Mason, Mark Mothersbaugh, Eric McCafferty, Ellen Mueller, Justin Myers, Justin Nelson, Ashley Niven, Kym O'Donnell, David Packer, Roger Palmer, Sam Parker, Kurt Piazza, Bianca Pratorius, Jim Reiman, Babs Reingold, Herman Reller, Jim Roche, Erica Rohman, Cornel Rubino, John F. Russell, Shannon Richie-Lindsey, Edwin Smalling, Brian Taylor, Joe Tsambiras, Kevin Tsoiasue, Rumi Tsuda, Nichole Van Beek, Stephanie Wadman, Kirk Wang, Julie Weitz, Theo Wujick SP, Rob Yulfo, and Anthony Zollo.

This is quite a list, including a very wide range of artists. It is also an impossibly large number to write about here, so a select few will be highlighted in no particular order or hierarchy.

By John F. Russel

Participant tracing own hand.

John F. Russel's [Link] work was interactive. Viewers were to trace their hands out with a crayon, as shown on the right. That very same kind girl did me a favor by tracing out my left hand while I photographed the collaboration with the camera in my right hand. This was a fun piece that morphed as many viewers laid hands on it. By the end of the evening, it was a lot darker, more amorphous, and a performance piece in progress.

Work by Leslie Elsasser

Below  right is Ringling professor Leslie Elsasser's work. An aggresive cock claws a hapless-looking pink rabbit wearing striped leggings, with bubble-like forms floating up from both, some pink, some clear.

Work by Lisa Harasiuk

From Lisa Harasiuk (left) a tongue tied, with accompanying personal-sounding emotional narrative in vertical bars and what appears to be watercolor letter forms in the background.

Work by Kirk Wang

On the right is a dancing Panda by Kirk Wang, a professor of Visual Arts at Eckerd College who is a painter, sculptor, photographer, mixed media artist and is involved with making educational software.

Work by Bradlee Shanks

Bradlee Shanks is a USF Associate Professor in printmaking.
his specialty is digitally mediated printmaking. This image of two waves is a metaphorical fluid narrative but it is also an exquisite tone poem. [Link]

Photo by Jeremy Chandler

Jeremy Chandler, [Link] whose work has been reviewed here before, is a photographer who does mostly deadpan, social narrative, documentary style portraits with a slight Arbus-like edge. He was Tampa's sixth Photographer Laureate and has been exhibited in the Mindy Solomon Gallery recently in the "Hero Worship" show (which was reviewed here).

Work by Jeff Gibbons

A graduate of University of Tampa, Jeff Gibbons submitted this repeating image of what seems to be a lumberjack wielding an axe.  The many figures resonate off one another, and give the impression of being a visual chant.
[Link]

Work by Rob Yulfo

The work on the right, by Rob Yulfo, appears to have comic-book influences. You can see a lot more of his work here [Link. A very specific balance between organic and graphic approaches making for a strong style.

Work by Daniel Georges

From Daniel Georges, an image of a goal post with very random-looking lines on one side, and very orderly, coherent ones on the other. A comment on what happens before and after reaching a goal?

















Sam Parker sent a beautifully executed, comic-book styled creature with breasts, carrying the City, with many arms or branches and five legs.

End, part I. To be continued...