Jellyfish hover at eye level in Submerge. In the multimedia show, exhibiting artist Gwyneth Scally presents political figures as half-men, half-fish on stained wood blocks, fiberglass jellyfish beside Laura McClanahan?s videos of waves and vortices, and photograms, or photographs created without a camera by shining light through glass objects onto light-sensitive paper for a fraction of a second in a darkroom.
Scally?s sculptures and paintings of Newt Gingrich and Arnold Schwarzenegger ask viewers to ponder how humans evolved from the sea, or the “cradle of life,” as she calls it.
Scally, a D.C. native living in Arizona, hopes her works draw viewers into discussions about creationism and teaching evolution in science class, she said. “Not enough people are talking about it because science is about pure reason and so many scientists are against persuasive language.”
Scally?s jellyfish represent “our great discomfort with our own bodies, and the [subsequent] love-hate relationship with them,” she explained. “Our bodies get sick, age and betray us. Jellyfish sting us and are frightening, gloopy and gelatinous. They represent beauty and disgust.”
During the past 10 years, Scally has received more than $17,000 in grants and residency programs.
Both Scally and McClanahan share similar conceptual and visual traits by depicting water as a source of life and using vivid reds as their primary colors, notes Gallery Imperato Director Cheri Landry.
A spiritual crisis several years ago lead McClanahan to her interest in depicting thought processes and their effects on one?s life.
In “Vortexes,” McClanahan, a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, depicts an obsessed person?s thought process, she said. “It spins and funnels around, thinking the same idea over and over.”
McClanahan started meditating to become more aware of her thought process and to live in the moment. She hopes her hypnotic videos of water in repeating motions brings more awareness to evaluating your thought patterns and penetrating life?s surface.
IF YOU GO
Submerge
» When: Through Feb. 16
» Where: Gallery Imperato
921 E. Fort Ave., Baltimore
» Info: 443-257-4166
