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Face Value' juried exhibit at Broward Community College in Davie
CC juried show explores artists' idea of 'Face Value' 


Face Value' juried exhibit at Broward Community College in Davie 

By Candice Russell | Special Correspondent 

November 18, 2007


Masks with a sinister edge greet visitors at the Fine Arts Gallery of Broward Community College in Davie. Created by art students on the central campus, these masks on a wall adjoining the gallery include an evil Santa Claus, horned folkloric creatures, and joyful visages for wearing at Fantasy Fest in Key West. All the masks lead to "Face Value," a national juried exhibition on view through Dec. 11.

Curated by Brian Bishop, this intriguing show is heavy on paintings, such as Iterations, an oil on canvas by Jean Reece Wilkey of New Mexico. An uncomfortable-looking woman lies curled up on a bed. She wears pajamas with a hoodie in a bunny print fabric; near her are piles of stuffed and chocolate bunnies, with a real bunny surveying this scene from a corner. The subject looks slightly bedeviled in the grip of an obsession with the long-eared creatures. It's a far cry from Wilkey's other work in the show, a mood-elevating acrylic on canvas titled Evan Ensconced depicting a happy baby surrounded by a rainbow coalition of chickens.

Winner of best in show is No Clowns, a digital print by Mare Vaccaro of New York. A bald woman in profile stands against a wall of tattered newspapers. Wearing a wide lace ruff around her neck like Queen Elizabeth, she can be interpreted as a proud survivor of chemotherapy and radiation, or a descendant of people living 100 years from now when head hair is deemed superfluous.

Second place goes to South Florida's Eydi Lampasona for Made in China, a kimono fashioned from clothing labels and silk. There's an alarming frankness to the point of insult in Jonathan Jacquet's Self-Portrait. In this oil on panel, the Georgia artist depicts himself as fat-cheeked, one-eyed, unsmiling and cold. 

For information call 954-201-6984 or visit geocities.com/bccfineartsgallery.

Candice Russell is a freelance writer in Plantation.

Sun sentinel


BCC juried show explores artists' idea of 'Face Value' 

By CANDICE RUSSELL Special to The Miami Herald 

November 17, 2007 

''Timely, thought-provoking and resplendent,'' is how Brian Bishop describes Face Value, the national juried exhibition he assembled for the Fine Art Gallery on the Broward Community College Central Campus in Davie. 

On view through Dec. 11, the show takes the idea of portraiture to new and creative lengths. 

Lauren Odell Usher of California opts for the unconventional in her piece Receipts by using store receipts from Urban Outfitters, Walgreens and Ned's Berkeley Bookstore, among other places, to hold images of herself in various poses with linocut prints. The all-red images convey an old-school, Soviet-poster feeling. 

In the second-place winner, Made in China, Eydi Lampasona of Boca Raton only implies the human presence through a piece of clothing. Her work is a kimono meticulously fashioned from little bits of material -- clothing labels and silk -- and a commentary on whether certain people are driven more by the cachet of high-priced designers than the worth of the garments on their bodies. 

Mare Vaccaro of New York won best in show for her print No Clowns of a bald woman in profile looking like an alien.

First place honors went to Jonathan Jacquet of Georgia for his small Self-Portrait, an oil on panel showing a warts-and-all portrayal of a face with no attempt to disguise a double chin and an unseeing right eye. It has the direct frontal punch of a prison mug shot. 

Fort Lauderdale's Jan Johnson won third place for Ascending Memory, an etching of two females, one in the midst of a high dive and the other a serene young woman in profile. 

The natural world is referenced in Mischief, a ceramic wall hanging that won a juror award for Susan Banks. A human eye appears in a face made of seeds and topped with horns.