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Thursday, 07 May 2009 04:29

Mad Art Gallery invites you to the opening reception for Personal Narratives—work by Teri Moore and Erin Rivers on Friday, May 8, 2009, from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m.  Chef David Lewis will be creating complimentary hors d'oeuvres. Cash bar available. The show runs through May 31, 2009.

Lethe I, II, III and IV
latex paint and ink 

OM: s20.10 IM: 2
OM: s27.60 IM: 5
OM: s35.10 IM: 8
OM: s42.60 IM: 11
latext paint, pencil and conte

Many, if not all of us have been involved in a car crash. It is a slow motion thing that fills our body and mind with a charge of helplessness and shock. Often we can remember those seconds beforehand, replaying them in our mind like the Zapruder. But what of the moments after? When Erin Rivers was involved in a crash seven years ago her memories of the accident that nearly took her life and what came after were sparse. She had her MRI scans. That was her link and bridge. It also became the subject of her art. Rivers used those medical records as the basis for her show taking place at the Mad Art Gallery with an opening Friday, May 8 from 7:00 until 11:00 and running through the end of May.

Rivers’ explains “While there is no memory of the event itself, there has always been the struggle between wanting to remember and not wanting to know what occurred that day.  This project is a way to construct concrete elements from something that is unknown.” 

The show features two sets of work with black and white pieces based on those original MRI scans. “Each MRI scan documents a slice of the brain and a moment in time, creating visual action.  The fluid, linear marks and detailed aspects of each piece mimic this action and create a life in that image.” There is also a series of four red pieces which are “a personal reaction to the event itself.”

What Rivers is trying to do is create a story using the only elements she has available to her from that time. “What exists is a reaction to the unknown and the ability to create an abstract account of something that is defining and unique to me as a person.”

Erin Rivers’ process in approaching this show was a combination of elements falling into place. “For this show, I had an overall idea about what I wanted to achieve and from there the pieces just seemed to come together.” The “coming together” unfortunately involved the timing of the accident.  “The four red paintings that contrast with the majority of the pieces represent a theme that I've been working with for several years and ended up pulling everything together. It’s a style that started during the time of the wreck.  It basically brings everything full circle I guess.”

There is a touch of classical mythology in the red pieces as well. “In classical mythology the term Lethe (lee-thee) refers to “a river in Hades whose water caused forgetfulness of the past in those who drank of it.”  The red pieces explore that idea and work together to bridge the realms of life and death and the conscious and unconscious.” | Jim Dunn