Is there such a thing as art food? If a work of art is the objectification of an idea or set of ideas, can those ideas themselves manifest as objects? A new exhibition at the Ipso gallery in Sioux Falls may have an answer.
“That’s Interesting” asked a dozen local artists to curate the ontological art-Spam that fuels them toward creative fruition.
Ipso and Fresh Produce co-founder Ted Heeren (you might know him as Flowerman on a certain radio show) says “That’s Interesting” was “something we all talked about and what was interesting about it is the idea of celebrating — instead of what comes out of a creative process, showcasing what goes into a creative process, things that artists are curious about or the hobbies artist might have or the collections, the day-to-day, interesting things that artists do to satisfy their curiosity.”
Artist Kelsey Benson says the doll heads and transhuman objects in her installation are, “an outlet for me to have a sense of humor that transitions into my work in different ways. My grandmother gave me these doll heads. They’re kind of special to me. It’s funny how one person thinks something is creepy and it will make another person laugh.”
Painter Mary Groth grew up near Aberdeen and has always been inspired by the prairie, as well as a fascination with the ocean instilled in her by her mother. “It would be hard to say what doesn’t inspire me at this point,” says Groth.
“I started years ago looking at old photo albums in flea markets and antique stores. Especially if it was a farm, you knew that somebody had a Brownie camera or something and they were taking pictures of daily life on the farm, and they were really candid. Not posed, but candid pictures. And it just jumped out at me that these lives were very important to them. They laughed. They cried. They fell in love. They had people die. They worked. They loved their kids. And [those picture albums] just became a genesis for me for a lot of my work.”
What’s interesting about “That’s Interesting” is that by sharing their take-off points with the world the artists have invited you to mind-eat their art-lunch and go wherever you will with it.
They’ve inverted the artmaking process into an infinite series of interchangeable, creative cause and effect nodes spread out ad infinitum in all directions from the inspirational core, like that ever-elusive 50-yard line in Zeno’s Dichotomy paradox. If the sheer meta-ness of it all renders you motionless, just find your way to Ipso to get back your bearings.