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    Art Review: The Whiteness of the Whale

    You’ll recall this past August Wild Goose Creative hosted The Art of the Leviathan, an exhibition of artwork based on the novel Moby Dick. Now, as the year draws to a close Moby Dick surfaces again, this time at the Cultural Arts Center in an exhibition titled The Whiteness of the Whale. Given this confluence of like-minded shows it seems entirely reasonable to ask, “How is it that Columbus, Ohio managed two Moby Dick exhibitions in one year?”.

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    whale-02
    “…the whale was not yet in sight…” by Mary Jo Burke.

    We’re a landlocked city after all, and thus have no seafaring heritage to speak of. And Worthington notwithstanding, we don’t have strong ties to 19th-Century New England either. I do recall that canals merited a mention in Mellville’s classic, so that’s an Ohio connection (albeit a tenuous one). Then again, reflecting on the near-encyclopedic nature of the book, there’s not really a lot that didn’t merit a mention over the course of its 135 chapters. So, it’s fair to at least ask, “Why Moby Dick?”.

    The safe answers are grand themes, timeless adventure, and Moby Dick’s standing as one of the most quintessential of American novels. Those would be good answers; ones that could be successfully argued. I wonder though if there might be something deeper at work here.

    We live in a time when individuals have the power to personalize their media exposure like never before. Cable TV, DVR, Netflix, satellite radio, podcasts, playlists, streaming services, RSS feeds all serve to ensure that individuals have maximum control over the things they see, the things they hear, and the ideas they’re exposed to. Social media offers similar options. This trend towards individualization isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but we should know that our increased capacity to individualize experiences lessens our chances of enjoying shared experiences.

    Moby Dick, despite it’s 19th-Century prose and daunting length offers us a shared experience. Sure, many of us haven’t actually read it, but through the power of cultural osmosis most of us can at least claim knowledge of the plot, the central characters, and the major themes. It’s this chance to reflect en masse, to share in a cultural conversation that I believe answers the question “Why Moby Dick?”.

    "Circle Print" by Leah Frankel.
    “Circle Print” by Leah Frankel.

    As to the exhibitions themselves, they offered a chance to appreciate both sides of Mellville’s hefty tome. Moby Dick is a book that is both poetic and literal, alternating between the flowery meditations and textbook-like exposition. In that sense, the Wild Goose exhibition The Art of Leviathan represented Moby Dick at it’s narrative, expository best; telling a story, drawing the pictures, illustrating the characters and events. In contrast, The Whiteness of the Whale embraces the meditative, poetic side of Mellville. It’s an exhibition that eschews the literal for things metaphorical.

    In organizing the show Co-Curators Molly Jo Burke and Andrea Myers invited seven artists to create works based on the themes presented in Moby Dick, paying particular attention to Chapter 42, The Whiteness of the Whale. In this chapter in Mellville offers a detailed discussion on the color white, it’s association with the void, and some thoughts on how it is that this color of such “dumb blankness” could hold such deep and sublime meaning. The resulting show is an austere and cohesive presentation that offers the chance to explore Mellville’s book through the eyes of some very inventive artists.

    whale-03
    “The Whale (detail)” by Jeff Haase.

    The centerpiece of the exhibition is Jeff Haase’s installation The Whale, a large scale sculpture constructed with over-sized sheets of paper curtains. Arranged by size along a central spine the piece presents a stylized approximation of being inside the whale. The accompanying sound recording (which features the book read-aloud), adds to the immersive quality of the work. This theme of whiteness is carried out through the rest of the show. While there are occasional splashes of color (in particular the panels of Josh Welker), most of the pieces work within the confines of the grayscale.

    Molly Jo Burke offers a sense of the whale’s scale in slightly different way. Her small, plaster sculpture …the whale was not yet in sight… places the whale’s eye in relief against the vast expanse of a white wall. Less figurative ruminations on Moby Dick can be found in the works of Jayne Struble and Leah Frankel. Frankel’s prints, Circle Prints 1-4 hint at something organic, perhaps an eye, perhaps a hole, while Struble’s plaster casts In Stock suggests whale bones and the business of whaling that is at the heart of Moby Dick.

    Bring all these works together, and the effect is otherworldly. Moby Dick demands a certain amount of rigor. It asks readers to be committed. It also asks readers (especially those of us in the 21st-Century) to imagine a world and a set of experiences very different from our own. The Whiteness of the Whale, with it’s poetry and ambiguity presents similar challenges Like the book though, those who do a little homework and think through what they see will be amply rewarded.

    The Whiteness of the Whale is on view at the Cultural Arts Center’s Main Hall Gallery through January 9. A closing reception, featuring period sea shanties by the vocal group The Hardtackers is scheduled for January 8 from 6-8 PM.

    More information can be found at www.culturalartscenteronline.org.

    Image credits:

    Mary Jo Burke
    …the whale was not yet in sight…
    2015
    Plaster
    6.5 inches x 10 inches

    Leah Frankel
    Circle Print
    2015
    screen print on paper

    Jeff Haase
    The Whale (detail)
    2015
    Paper, wood, sound recording

    Andrea Myers
    Phantom Limb
    2015
    Machine sewn fabric collage
    60 inches x 22 inches

    Jayne Struble
    In Stock
    2015
    Plaster casts
    48 inches x 16 inches x 8 inches

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    Jeff Regensburger
    Jeff Regensburger
    Jeff Regensburger is a painter, librarian, and drummer in the rock combo The Christopher Rendition. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts (Painting and Drawing) from The Ohio State University in 1990 and an Master’s Degree in Library Science from Kent State University in 1997. Jeff blogs sporadically (OnSummit.blogspot.com), tweets occasionally (@jeffrey_r), and paints as time allows.
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