Summer group shows spotlight galleries' diverse rosters

Elizabeth Alley "Orange Beads" for poster.

The Dog Days of August have crashed upon us with furious force. It’s the month of vacations, lying low, moving as little as possible.

In August, art galleries traditionally fall back on what are often called “summer group shows,” gathering works by gallery artists instead of concentrating on a themed exhibition by one artist. The easy way out, perhaps, but these group shows serve the purpose of emphasizing a gallery’s diversity, presenting the range of its artists and even offering a sense of humor.

"Orange Beads" by Elizabeth Alley at Harrington Brown Gallery.

“Furgloves/Butterfly” by Anne Siems at David Lusk Gallery.

All of those qualities are on display in David Lusk Gallery’s “The Price Is Right,” the granddaddy of summer group shows in longevity and in size. The principle is child’s play: a lot of art, all priced under $1,000; much of the work sells for just a couple of C-notes. Thirty-seven artists are included in the exhibition, many of them taking the opportunity to have some fun, as in the cartoony collaborative paintings of Hamlett Dobbins and Tad Lauritzen Wright; Tim Crowder’s little paintings of animals on paper plates; Greely Myatt’s small wood children’s chairs with thought-clouds cut out of the seats; and Dwayne Butcher’s mildly satiric slogans like “Sometimes people are gay,” the response to which could be “and sometimes they’re sad” or “and sometimes they’re heterosexual.”

Gallery owner David Lusk typically uses “The Price Is Right” to introduce younger artists who have not had commercial gallery exposure, so this year we get work by Christopher Robin, Jason Miller and Laura Coulson, graduates of the art program at the University of Memphis, and Louis Giberson from Memphis College of Art. More familiar artists aren’t neglected, of course; look particularly for striking work by local photographer Jeane Umbreit (the “American Grace” series); father-and-daughter painters John Torina and Clare Torina; Veda Reed, whose landscapes deliver an increasing depth of simplicity and feeling that never ceases to amaze; and Anne Siems, who offers a group of atypical but stunning drawings of fur gloves, as if meant for the gentlest and most refined werewolves.

Two other galleries in East Memphis are holding group shows this month; all three mentioned here have opening receptions tonight, creating an occasion to see a great deal of local and regional art in reasonable proximity.

L. Ross Gallery features nine artists in its annual “Works on Paper” exhibition. Included are Mike Caplanis, David Comstock, Melissa Dunn, David Hall, Matthew Hasty, Ian Lemmonds, Annabelle Meacham, Louise Palazola and Lisa Weiss. Most of these names are familiar to art-lovers who frequent the gallery or to people who have kept up with the evolution of younger artists, like Comstock and Dunn. Dunn’s new pieces reveal a marked maturity of technique and vision, and a refreshing sense of delicacy and elegance, while Weiss’ pieces in this show, small mixed-media paintings from her “Alchemy” series, are a complete turnaround in color and form and frankly are exquisite.

This month, Harrington Brown Gallery offers works by 10 artists, including three new to its stable: Elizabeth Alley, Rena Chiozza and Angi Cooper. A well-known local artist, Alley showed with the now-closed Perry Nicole Fine Art for several years but has not had gallery representation recently. She specializes in the fraught undertones of people’s relationship to themselves and others, to their family rituals, everyday objects, even their own clothes and adornments, focusing on details in painterly fashion.

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