conversations with TONY LUENSMAN

Images: Tony Luensman at Herron Galleries next to his piece Literalization of Transubstantiation (A Child's Vision of the Sacred Heart) and his piece Treeblower, also on exhibition at Herron Galleries.


Last week, we at Herron were fortunate to have Cincinnati-based artist Tony Luensman with us for a lecture and studio visits with MFA students. Luensman has two pieces up in the current group show at Herron Galleries, which is called Between History and Memory and is open through November 20. He has a solo exhibition up at Clay Street Press in Cincinnati called ABRADE. Luensman was educated in painting and sculpture at Kenyon, has had multiple residencies in Taiwan, is a recipient of the 2008 Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship among many other awards, and his art is held in many public collections. He has been widely exhibited both nationally and internationally in group and solo shows, including a 2007 exhibition entitled Arenas at the Cincinnati Art Museum where his art was placed throughout the space so visitors could revisit the museum's collection while seeking out his art.

Luensman believes titles are very important, and often thinks through words rather than images in his art. "My ideas come verbally," he says. A lot of his art straddles the line between innocence and a darker reality quite poignantly, but through the the more adult-like themes that exist within his art he is also trying to restore the sense of innocence in experiences that would not traditionally be interpreted that way. He views some of his art as "a way of making sexual issues not so serious" for himself. His art's ability to embody completely different meanings and situations simultaneously is its greatest strength. "I like setting up that tension where people may be unaware of what they are doing," he explains in reference to viewers' interactions with his art.

I recently had the pleasure of having some conversations with Tony here at Herron Galleries. Below are the videos, and also some photographs of some of his art, with his explanations.

conversations with Tony Luensman Part 3 from Charles Fox on Vimeo.

The following images are courtesy of Tony Luensman:

Flashcracker, 2007

“I like to occasionally undermine an innocent experience one may have with a work by building in an uneasy history and/or reference. In the case of Flashcracker, the viewer may dance on the circle of sand to activate the 4th of July video firecrackers while being unaware that the 'Flash' in the title refers to a quote I heard on NPR in which a soldier described walking along the desert with a fellow soldier and in the next instant, upon stepping on a landmine, his buddy became a cloud of ‘pink mist and bone chips.’”



Angel Swing, 2009

"Angel Swing refers to the hangings of 2 gay youths in Iran. The neon form in the piece is at once a noose, a 'tire' swing, and a halo. the images released on the internet of this 2005 event, depict a flatbed truck which served as the gallows platform. In my piece i have a chain coming out from the underside of a toy truck which holds the neon transformer - viewers, then, can turn the neon light on and off but, at the same time, taking unwitting part in the executions."


Ladder For Blurred Perspective, 2009

Know No Stranger Presents Optical Popsicle

Last Friday and Saturday, everyone who attended Know No Stranger's Optical Popsicle was treated to a visual feast. It was advertised as a visual variety show, and it did not disappoint. Comprised of a wide variety of seemingly disparate skits and vignettes, Optical Popsicle left the viewer with a sense of unity and empathy with the human experience. The show felt very contemporary in its scope of thematic material while maintaining a deeply ingrained sense of nostalgia. The skits were evocative of National Film Board of Canada Vignettes in the sense of being short, lighthearted and whimsical bursts of creative energy. It was a lo-fi look at a hi-fi life, evoking the feeling of facing current life issues through the guise of warm, fuzzy memories and "technology" (think projectors) that has become so outdated that it is nostalgic. There was lots of optical trickery incorporating overhead projectors, and although simple it was amazingly fun and effective in stimulating viewers. I have tried to illustrate some of what went on through my photographs, and there is also a link to some video snippets courtesy of Know No Stranger. I can't remember how many sheets of messy notes written on transparencies I've copied from overhead projectors throughout my life as a student, how many times I've closed my eyes as I stepped in front of them so as not to be blinded, but in recent years they have given way to the Powerpoint. I never thought overhead projectors would become endearingly nostalgic!

I recently had the chance to catch up with Know No Stranger's Michael Runge to discuss the show and what lies ahead for No Know Stranger.

Human relations seemed to be the biggest underlying theme that pulsed throughout each skit of Optical Popsicle. The tone was very sober and authentic in conveying the awkwardness and fleeting nature of many social interactions and relationships. It never felt sappy or contrived and there was always a candid, confessional sentiment. “I feel like relationships was the big theme, especially for the Friday show," Runge explains. " I think anybody can identify with that kind of stuff and anybody can relate; everybody has some experience with a relationship." Despite the very personal nature of some of the skits, they were presented in a way that had relevance to everyone. They maintained a lighthearted appeal while seeming to hold a message or epiphany just below the surface. Runge elaborates on the personal/impersonal nature of storytelling:

"The more specific of a story that you tell, and the more individualized you make it, it seems like the more people can relate to it since it’s more sincere, it’s more heartfelt; you know people are going to identify with that rather than trying to make something that reaches everybody. You just try to make something that’s true to yourself and being true to yourself is what’s going to reach people. (The skits) are specific in a way because they’re my individual experience, but they’re vague enough because everyone can relate to them, and I think that’s really powerful. That’s what made it enjoyable for me, something that I was into and something that I felt I needed to express, so that gave me more energy and I think that came through in the actual pieces."

A large aim of Optical Popsicle was to inspire creativity and curtail negativity, specifically regarding the perceived lack of things to do in Indianapolis. Friday's performance ended with Runge beckoning the crowd to stop complaining about Indianapolis. “I think that people think there’s nothing going on," he reasons. "I think there’s just a lack of community; it’s not easy to meet new people and it’s not easy to hang out and develop those really strong friendships in Indianapolis. That’s something that I’ve been trying to fight for a while. (Know No Stranger aims) to connect people to things going on, but also to connect people to each other.”

Using the vignette-style format of short skits proved to be very effective for Know No Stranger both in granting different artists the chance to show their material and in holding the audience's attention. Runge reflects on the format:

"I wanted it to be immediately accessible to the viewer, and they appreciate it right away rather than having to dwell on it and analyse it. It’s almost like watching TV in a way, the cuts were really quick, and you’re immediately satisfied. I guess when I compare it to TV that sounds really disgusting, but I think a lot of people are used to viewing that way, and so bringing them an art source that kind of caters to that kind of mentality, I think we were able to capture the attention of a lot more people because we gave them the art in a way that they were used to…in a museum, you see usual fine arts, it takes a lot of time, you have to really reflect on it, and really kind of analyze yourself and the piece and it sometimes takes a long time for you to get anything back from the piece. I was interested in doing something that was a little quicker."


Ideally, Optical Popsicle will become an annual event. Runge hopes to receive some strong submissions for next year's show as well as apply for grants and search for artists from other places who can contribute to the show, hopefully on a paid basis. The future will also see Know No Stranger placing emphasis on interacting with the local community. Next spring, there will be a partnership with Big Car including activities in downtown Indianapolis and on the Eastside. “I’d like (Know No Stranger) to be a place where we can actualize people’s ideas. That’s what I’d like to see Know No Stranger become: the source to make things happen,” Runge says.

Runge stresses that anyone can be creative and make things happen for other people to enjoy. “Since it was cheap and simple to put together, the only thing that we really needed was our creativity,” he says regarding Optical Popsicle. “It’s fun that we just made it up; none of us had ever done that before and it’s just something that we wanted to do. It was a really big learning experience for all of us, but it was not impossible. We just had the courage to put ourselves out there and make it happen, just step off that ledge and hope that there’s something there." And there most definitely was something there!

Look out for an upcoming DVD of Optical Popsicle (see attached video).

Teaser for Optical Popsicle DVDs coming soon from KNOW NO STRANGER on Vimeo.

Linda Adele Goodine

Linda Adele Goodine gave a very interesting lecture, "The Constructed Journey: Fine Art, Photography + Video" this past Wednesday in Indianapolis as a part of IUPUI's Cutting Edge Lecture Series. Goodine has taught for 2o years at Herron School of Art + Design (photography, installation, sound, video, performance) and also teaches distance learning classes at Vermont College. She is trained as a modern dancer and also teaches yoga and sings. Her artistic practice encompasses dance, poetry, performance, video, photography, images produced using scanners. During the lecture, Goodine screened images and video from her Seneca Honey series, produced between 2007 and 2009. Goodine states that she is "thinking of honey in terms of healing" in this body of work. "You can't live a life without suffering," she muses.

The two-channel video Bee Asana: the Healing of Plath (2007, collaboration with Herb Vincent Peterson) that Goodine screened during her lecture was very powerful. The video contrasts one channel with a figure covering herself in a mixture of wine, honey and oil to another channel of honey pouring and dripping. The wine is meant to represent blood and the honey and oil symbolize war. "The video is setup so you feel very anxious, referencing the eternal cycle of suffering," Goodine explains. After being entirely covered in the mixture of wine, honey and oil the figure is then lifted away from suffering, breaking the cycle. The soundscape combines B-52 bombers, bees, World War II bomb sirens and religious anthems. The first portion is an Episcopal Thanksgiving prayer, and it ends with a Buddhist healing prayer (Goodine describes herself as "an Episcopalian who thinks like a Buddhist"). Goodine also emphasized that it is an anti-war piece and says that she was very much effected by the war.

The art in the Seneca Honey series is also inspired by the poetry of Sylvia Plath. It did not start out this way, but as Goodine became involved in a group of people engaging Plath's work, her artistic direction began to be affected. "While I've always enjoyed Plath, when I began the work I wasn't thinking about Plath," Goodine explains. "She uses metaphor the same way I use metaphor. One thing I did not want (the body of work) to do was be illustrative of Plath. I'm resonating with Plath." Plath's poems that reference honey, such as The Beekeeper's Daughter, were especially inspiring to Goodine: "I related to her heartbreak, I related to her imagery, specifically the bee poems, and I related to her pain."

The Seneca Honey series is especially important for Goodine as she looks back on her life as artist and teacher and contemplates her future. "(The Seneca Honey Series) combines my entire experience as an artist and a person in the world. I did this work as if it would be the last work I'd ever do. That gave me a certain freedom to do whatever I wanted to do."

Goodine's photography often incorporates elaborately constructed scenes. She does not create these images in Photoshop or any such program, however. "I'm not interested at all in creating anything in the computer," she reasons. "The computer, I feel, is a thief in my life. I think the computer is an amazing tool, but I don't want to live there for my work."

The Seneca Honey series will soon be exhibited in three international venues: The National Gallery of Macedonia, The National Gallery of Montenegro, and an unspecified venue in Cologne, Germany.

Image: Ghat from the Seneca Honey series.