Group shows are booster for August doldrums

Branley Ellzey's "Flag No. 2" at Harrington Brown gallery. The "Red, Hot & Blues" group show features artists who have been with the gallery since its founding as well as newer additions.

The Dog Days of August generally mean a sense of slowing down several degrees in the art world. Galleries tend to mount group exhibitions, sometimes thematic, sometimes just featuring a variety of works from the dealer's stable of artists. It's a good time to see what galleries offer in terms of the diversity of their artists and the range of styles.

Linda Ross, owner of LRoss Gallery, mounted a group show in July and now, for August, has an exhibition of works on paper selected from seven of her artists: Chuck Johnson, Bobby Spillman, Anton Weiss, Ryan Vanderlay, Carl E. Moore, Jeri Ledbetter and Lisa Weiss. This is the third annual works-on-paper show that Ross has done in August.

Branley Ellzey's "Flag No. 2" at Harrington Brown gallery. The "Red, Hot & Blues" group show features artists who have been with the gallery since its founding as well as newer additions.

Chuck Johnson's "Trace Elements" is showing at L Ross Gallery's "Works on Paper" exhibition.

"I love works on paper," she said. "So often they seem fresh and crisp, a little lighter than bigger paintings."

Ross called August "a transitional month. People are coming back from vacation, getting the kids ready to go back to school. It's not a time perhaps to make major decisions, but works on paper tend to be less expensive than larger canvases, so the decision to buy something isn't that earth-shaking."

Not that the low-key exhibitions of August make life easier for the gallery owner and staff.

"In a word, no," Ross said. "The show still has to be selected and the work hung right. And with a show like this, I like to get a rhythm, a sense of balance, so the pieces work together."

A sense of rhythm may be the least concern in the annual "The Price Is Right" exhibition at David Lusk Gallery.

"It's a big show," Lusk said of the series that started in 1999 and this year offers works by 40 artists in a dizzying array of genres, styles and mediums. "It's a difficult show to mount."

The exhibition's subtitle is "Artwork Under $1,000," which doesn't mean that the show is a sale. Pieces are either created by artists for the show or drawn from the gallery's stock. In either case, the work is chosen to fit into the criteria of fairly moderate in size and fairly moderate in cost.

This year's "The Price Is Right" includes work by some of the city's best-known artists, including Peter Bowman, Dwayne Butcher, Hamlett Dobbins, Beth Edwards, Don Estes, Frieda Hamm, Pinkney Herbert, Terri Jones, Twin, Greely Myatt, Veda Reed, Jeane Umbreit and Tad Lauritzen Wright.

"People respond enthusiastically," said Lusk. "The first week of August is typically our busiest week of the year, both in visitors to the gallery and in writing invoices. We're not making a lot of money, but the artists are making some money at a slow time of the year."

Rose Harrington Brown opened her gallery, Harrington Brown, in February. Since then, she has presented a series of solo exhibitions, but she thought that August — "a slow month in the art world," she said — would be a good slot on the schedule for a group show. It's a combination of artists Brown has been handling since the gallery was launched and a number of artists new to her stable.

"Doing solo exhibitions tends to shove other artists off to the side," said Brown, "so this group exhibition is an opportunity to get them together and show some diversity in styles, subject and medium."

Summer Group Exhibitions

Here are some of the group shows now on exhibit:

— "The Price Is Right," at David Lusk Gallery, 4540 Poplar in Laurelwood, through Aug. 28. Call 767-3800.

— "Works on Paper," at L Ross Gallery, 5040 Sanderlin, Suite 104, through Aug. 31. Call 767-2200.

— "Red, Hot & Blues," at Harrington Brown Gallery, 5179 Wheelis, through Sept. 7. Call 590-3008.

— "Summer Group Exhibition," at Lisa Kurts Gallery, 766 S. White Station, through Sept. 30. Call 683-6200.

— "Summer Group Exhibition," at David Perry Smith Gallery, 703 New York, through Aug. 30. Call 347-3541.

© 2010 Go Memphis. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.