I love Urbana’s Independent Media Center. I love love it. It’s one of my happy places. The return of the Greater Community AIDS Project’s Artists Against AIDS art fair filled the IMC with everything that makes us happy: art, people, people talking about art, and plenty of warm-Saturday-in-March-sunshine. If you couldn’t stop by last weekend, several of the artists featured at this year’s juried art show will return in two weeks for 40 North’s annual Boneyard Arts Festival; stay tuned for more reporting about the vibrant creative arts scene in Champaign-Urbana.
GCAP’s Artists Against AIDS exhibits were a regular feature of creative life in C-U from 1993 to 2013 when artists shared their work across venues all over town, including the old Orpheum Theatre and the M2 building. Funding and times shifted, as they do, and GCAP no longer had the capacity to host such a wide-ranging event. But this year, the planets aligned just right and we were fortunate to have the return of this wonderful celebration of life through art.
I caught up with a few of the artists on site about their work and their stories. Fine art photographer Fraya Replinger’s Splash, a stunning image of a sunrise over Lake Michigan caught my eye first. The image is reminiscent of Harold ‘Doc’ Edgerton’s iconic milk drop image, only the drops in Replinger’s frame are the spray off of Lake Michigan. Replinger told me, “I’m not always up at a sunrise, but the one I captured in Splash got me out of bed. I was in Chicago at a place right by the lake. The morning waves were crashing up against the barrier and making this gorgeous sparkle against the sun. I ran out with my camera and caught them midair.” The effect is spectacular. Replinger’s work incorporates plenty of local landscapes as well as the bright orange sunrise over Lake Michigan and so much more. Her work also reveals the dense colors of an artichoke and the delicate purples of onion and garlic skins through a light box with intense precision. And she’s a delight to talk with about the magic of art.
Derrick Holley’s work, from the oil paintings, drawings, mixed media, to an incredible paper sculpture I couldn’t quite capture with my camera, is haunting. Originally from Champaign, with a little Chicago and Urbana mixed in, Holley told me he’s literally “haunted by the figures” he paints. Combining images of models mixed with his sometimes exaggerated renderings of everything from Kermit the Frog to Wonder Woman to Boss Hogg from The Dukes of Hazzard, Holley noted, “I grew up with these characters. The Muppets were my friends. In my imagination, the people I study intermingle as part of a larger conversation with culture and characters. Who doesn’t want to paint Wonder Woman? She’s a badass.” Holley has “a thirst to create” and is often asked what he’s working on. “You know, people ask me all the time what I’m working on or if I’m painting today. I’m painting every day. Even if I’m just out studying people or movement. Whether I get a brush stroke on the canvas or not, I’m painting.”
Bryant Anderson’s pop art pieces found people buzzing around his booth. The majority of his acrylics included cut up shards of old compact discs surrounding popular culture artifacts like the Powerpuff Girls, Batman, and, my personal favorite, the Teletubbies. “I started incorporating old cut up CDs because I love the way the light reverberates off of them. I’m fascinated with mosaic work so my own incorporation of different materials, like cd’s and the old tickets, brings new textures and dimension to otherwise flat acrylic work,” Anderson explained. “I kinda fell in love with Astro Boy’s boots and that inspired a re-vision of some of our more familiar pop icons with hints of those large animated boots as a through line,” he continued. Don’t go looking for the Teletubbies piece — I snatched that one up and it’s currently bouncing light around my living room.
The textile and fiber mixed media art of Gaye Grant and the fun and lively drawings, shirts, posters, and handmade cards of Meghan McDonald stood out as well. I’m particularly drawn to mixed media and collage work (don’t worry, you are spared images of my “creations”) and I’m often seeking out those interesting juxtapositions. One of McDonald’s whimsical but pointed stickers made its way home to our fridge.
Come see these, and many other talented artists from the Champaign-Urbana area, at this year’s Boneyard Arts Festival, April 12-14th.
