It seems as if 2020 has just begun, but already TASI has been working diligently after the holiday and winter break to continue showcasing artists and original art in Southeast Texas.
February saw the return of our regular exhibition schedule with TASI tenant Kailee Viator and Beaumont native Amanda Barry’s “Common Occurrence of Time,” a strong and in-depth show conjoining concepts of an organic and natural interpretation of the world.
Seeking out and recognizing emerging and established artists is one of the main missions for The Studio. Executive director and founder Greg Busceme puts tremendous effort and care into securing exhibitions that highlight the strength of these individuals and the diversity of creativity in our community.
TASI typically books shows about two years out on any given calendar of events. There are some slots that are filled with specific shows — for example, the May exhibit is traditionally filled by the previous year’s TASIMJAE (The Art Studio, Inc. Members Jurored Art Exhibition) winner or the September show is historically the TASI Tenants Show.
TASI non-group shows have a long and complex history — just like that of TASI itself — that strives to evolve to stay fresh and interesting to our members, patrons and community. Art in Southeast Texas is really a catalyst of how your community communicates with each other. The Studio is the medium within which art and artists relate to our local audience (and beyond) and becomes accessible to people.
Much has been made of art exhibitions throughout recorded human history. Art historian Anna Cline wrote that art is a mirror on society — it reflects their wants, needs and desires — and at the same time “challenges its ideologies and preconceptions.”
It is no different at TASI, the board and administrative staff work to keep art relevant to our community and audiences regarding the present, past and the future. We are the intersection of many interests.
That’s not always an easy task to accomplish — especially after 37 years. We are always reaching and striving for the next thing to show you. Exhibitions should be a platform for experimentation and challenging conventions — not in mockery or divisiveness, but in the search for new ideas that suit and better our community.
The ancients of human history installed art in public buildings, though the work was often presented or started as an offering to a deity rather than autonomous work of art. This rigidity remained true through the Middle Ages when most artistic production was for religious purposes. But with the dawn of the Renaissance in Western culture, artists began to attach their names to their works, creating work that reflected their individual aesthetics as artists.
The first modern art exhibitions began in the 1600s in artistic capitals such as Rome, Venice and Florence. Artists figured out quickly they could use these exhibitions to help establish their own reputations — and favor with patrons.
Art academies would soon follow. The earliest academy in Europe, the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, was founded in 1563. These Italian institutions were copied in France in 1648 with L’Acadèmie de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris. Responsible for the state’s educational program in the fine arts, its first exhibition was held in 1667 for the court society only, but by 1725 the exhibition moved to the Louvre and was open to the general public where it became known simply as the Salon.
The role of the Salon was to enhance the image of national sovereignty embodied usually by a monarchy, which also dictated many rules and formalities by which the Academy abided in choosing works for exhibition.
The role of TASI is to enhance our community’s artistic voice with our community’s voice — and if you know anything about us, we embrace traditions and at the same time are not afraid to challenge (and break) standard norms.
The importance of those early academies can’t be overstated. They wielded power of overseeing the instruction of the fine arts and hence dictated artistic style to society through exhibitions of their members’ work. Their overwhelming influence remained most prominent in France. The Enlightenment Era and the French Revolution brought about a liberalization and disruption of 18th-century social patterns. This had significant impact on the 19th century European art world, one being that the Salon was now open to any artist who wanted to submit work for consideration.
Just like TASI of today.
At the beginning of the 19th century, this newfound awareness led to an increase in single artist exhibitions and subsequently to the artists’ use of the exhibition as a format for stating their political or aesthetic position.
Eventually, the specific Salon-style exhibition went out of favor, and by 1900 there was no longer a Salon, having become weakened by the 1863 Salon des Refusés, the Impressionist Exhibitions starting in 1874, and in 1890 when the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts seceded and formed its own salon.
The Studio prides itself in being an independent entity for a forum for dialogue, change and reflection. The work our board members do fosters this ideology. We challenge artists to explore the traditional rules of what art is — and we encourage artists to break those rules to create something organic and authentic.
Stephan Malick is TASI board chairman