Art Outside The Lines

Art exhibits are typically housed in galleries with white-washed walls and empty rooms to prevent the surroundings from overwhelming the art. And, keeping with convention, an exhibit entitled "Portraits and Landscapes" would likely include human portraits and earthly lanscapes. But artists Jonathan Blackwell and Lauren Rosenthal threw all the rules out the window for their exhibit, which will be shown in the Durham Co-op (1101 W. Chapel Hill St.) --a place nothing like a sterile gallery. As for the portraits and landscapes, the portraits feature trees and the landscapes depict the human form. These two have flipped everything on its head.

Blackwell and Rosenthal chose the Co-op to show their work because they believe art should be a neccesity rather than a luxury. The juxtaposition of art and food is key because, according to Blackwell, "sustenance is all you really need from a grocery store." With their unconventional styles, the two suggest people may begin to see art as sustenance too.

As for the art, Rosenthal says the exhibit "is about reuniting man with nature. It needs to be known that we are not separate from the earth we live on." It was with this statement in mind that Blackwell and Rosenthal created their art.

Blackwell's portraits capture trees in and around Durham, many on Duke's campus. Each of his paintings displays a very anthropomorphic quality and seems to capture a specific emotion. "Trees can really have a lot of personality," Blackwell says. That personality is evident in his work.

Rosenthal's landscapes are about "man and nature becoming one." She draws with ink on rice paper and begins each drawing by looking at a topographic map. The lines in these maps give her inspiration for drawings of the human form, which feature similar curves.

The show's debut will be Saturday, April 13 from 3pm until 8pm at 1101 W. Chapel Hill St. in Durham. If you can't make the opening, "Portraits and Lanscapes" will be waiting--you've got two more weeks to defy convention.