Thursday, June 16, 2011
Arts and Entertainment ArtScene: Charlotta Janssen at Nashville Public Library
Posted by Laura Hutson on Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 1:43 PM
Threads of a Story: History Inspiring Art
Paintings by Charlotta Janssen
Opening reception with talk by the artist on Saturday, June 18.
Through Oct. 11 at Nashville Public Library.
It's rare that an exhibit with roots in historical events is visually compelling on its own, but Charlotta Janssen's paintings are exceptional. Janssen found out about the story of the Freedom Riders — the civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated South to test new desegregation laws — on the Internet, and was moved by the mugshots of the young activists, their faces filled with defiance instead of shame. To make her portraits, she paints replicas of the mugshots, adds a rust process to the canvases to give them a sepia sheen, and then adds a layer of collage that grounds them in history. The whole story, including her process and history, is in the video above.
The exhibit at the library includes 82 images — which Janssen says took her the most part of this year and last to paint, rust and collage. She'll be at the library for the opening tomorrow at 2 p.m. to give an informal talk on the work. More images of the exhibit after the jump.
- Charlotta Janssen
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This is the most incredible work of art I've seen in Nashville in living in and out of here more than 40 years - Louisiana, Atlanta, etc.- first, if one listens to the Video, Charlotta, a German educated person, tells of her journey in finding that NASHVILLE was the center of most of the Freedom Riders, second the theme of 'non-violence resistance' which is still sweeping the world has as its epicenter, and first great 'movement' after Montgomery, here in Nashville. Third, there is the POWER OF THE ART ITSELF..taking an artist friend last week to it, he explained how the consistent color molded the many into the one moment of art and history; the exhibit only lacks one thing - the singing, which kept people going, told the story, allowed communication in jail. An addition for fall?
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