Interior / Exterior Includes Multiple Perspectives on Motherhood, Trauma and More

One of the season’s most ambitious group gallery shows is Interior / Exterior, which opened Jan. 8 at Red Arrow Gallery in East Nashville. Some of the show’s most intriguing works deal with miscarriage and stillbirth — heavy themes that are granted some levity here due to their mediums. 

In “Ol’ Splashy,” Lauren Gregory — an East Tennessee native who currently teaches at both Parsons in New York and TSU — speaks about her own recent miscarriage with unexpected cheerfulness. It’s a playful stop-motion animated short soundtracked by sturdy organ music that always sounds on the verge of bursting into a hymn, and is attributed to Nashville Sounds organist and familiar longtime local sideman Matt “Jimmy” Rowland. The film presents a glimpse into Gregory’s subconscious that is equal parts silly and miserable. “I am both proud of and humiliated by this work,” she says in her artist’s statement. A first-person perspective from inside a bathtub is countered with clay renditions of Simpsons memes (“Stupid Sexy Flanders”) and a poignant pietà that recalls not only Michelangelo but also Allison Schulnik and Will Vinton. There’s something particularly sweet and childlike about stop-motion animation — it has a kind of Bob Ross-ian meditative quality. The effect of that sweetness is twofold, at least: The macabre edge of miscarriage is softened, while the scenes of sex and nudity seem somehow more taboo.

Annie Brito Hodgin is a self-taught painter with an eye for surrealistic vignettes. Her painting “Empty/Full” could work as the show’s entire exhibition statement — a dazed woman props her naked body against a tree as two dogs gnaw at the placenta they’ve just dragged away from her, tracking bloody paw prints all around. It’s not subtle, but it’s also autobiographical, so subtlety might not be the point. 

Hodgin’s work pairs well with the equally idiosyncratic paintings of Tess Davies, whose folk-art-inspired interiors are as captivating as intricate dollhouses. Davies uses acrylic-based house paint and a monochromatic palette that remind me a little of Wes Anderson. Both Hodgin and Davies share a solemn, dreamy aesthetic, but where Hodgin leans into the emotion of the stories she’s telling, Davies leaves her scenes intentionally, eerily vacant. 

Reneesha McCoy is a self-taught artist based in North Carolina with the confidence to bend her figures into larger-than-life forms, finished off with squiggle marks for nipples and a tossed-off drip of halo. Ashanté Kindle’s paintings are conceptually compelling — her intention is to use painterly texture to mimic the waves of Black hair. Two new paintings by Red Arrow alum Dana Oldfather show a movement toward figuration, but with an off-kilter composition and masterful use of color that keeps it exciting.

With a growing return to in-person viewings, expectations around a show’s installation have been heightened, and Interior / Exterior might have benefited from some organizational tweaks. A few examples: Oldfather’s works are the show’s strongest, and yet they’re given the cheapest seats — a corner of the gallery’s upstairs loft. A pair of great paintings — one from Hodgin and one from Davies — were packed into a side room filled with books and office supplies. And Gregory’s video piece was installed to face the gallery’s floor-to-ceiling window, so that there was no way to escape a glare on the monitor. Still, the excitement of seeing so much new work from so many new and evolving artists is worth trying to maneuver around the reflection.