MOORHEAD — Things are a little surreal at the Rourke Art Gallery + Museum this summer. The Moorhead institution’s 65th Midwestern exhibition is on the theme, “The Omnipotence of Dreams: A Century of Surrealism.”
The annual summertime invitational draws artists in from across the country who have some connection to the art space. This year set a record with 120 pieces displayed, about 20 more than usual and includes artists who have been with the organization since it started in the 1960s.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
“Artists always like having an opportunity to try something new. It makes a nice challenge,” said Jonathan Rutter, the Rourke’s executive director and curator.
The show isn’t a competition, but honors are handed out. In recent years the hierarchy of awards — first, second, honorable mention — have changed to reflect an attribute and an artist or arts supporter who embodied that element.
Mark Anthony / Contributed
Chris Orth was the big winner this year with his sculpture, “Burnt Toast,” featuring two pieces of charred bread popping out of an old fashioned toaster with red neon tubes showing how hot the appliance got. The sculpture earned the Gretchen Kottke Gallerist’s Choice Award, selected by the Heather Friedli and Dave Thune as well as the Milton Yergens Wit and Whimsy in Art Award, selected by the painter Molly Yergens, daughter of the late architect/artist.
John B. Weaver’s photo “Jump” takes home the James VerDoorn Staff Choice Award, named after the late artist who first worked at the Rourke in the 1960s and then later exhibited there.
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Rutter excluded himself from the selection committee but said those involved, “found the staples and subject an homage to the works of Man Ray.” The 20th Century Dada and Surrealist photographer was known for his richly toned images.
The black and white shot depicts a naked young man leaping up out of the image’s frame, but his hand holds the release cable to the camera.
It was such a hit it was purchased on opening night.
Mark Anthony / Contributed
Tayla Sessing won the Meredith Bloomquist Best in Theme Award as selected by Danielle Gravon, curator at the Plains Art Museum and a former Rourke employee. The 100-year-old Bloomquist has been a supporter of The Rourke for decades.
A ceramicist, Sessing is used to creating art with her hands, but she takes that to another level with “Handmade,” a circular vase made of what Rutter calls a “massive collection of Barbie limbs” layered on top of each other.
Mark Anthony
Hands are a recurring element in the show. Boney fingers crawl all over a torso in Joe B. Milosevich’s “Do Not Touch.” A hand rises over a heart overstuffed with items in Lexie Rundquist’s “In the Depths of My Heart.” Micah Haji-Sheikh’s “Grasp” is an ornate, sewn, floor-length jacket without a wearer, but instead featuring 11 hands emerging from fabric folds in the decorated interior lining.
“Disembodied limbs are pretty common in surrealism,” Rutter said.
Other artists paid direct homage to Surrealist artists in their own way, with Salvador Dali being the most frequent reference.
Mark Anthony / Contributed
Deana Novak’s “Sacrament of Dali” is an ode to the painter’s grand depiction of religious scenery. Mark Elton uses Salvador Dali’s clock over the face of a woman in “23.” Trygve Olson, a Forum editorial cartoon contributor, painted “Salvador Dolly,” with the handles of the handcart flaring out in opposite directions against a blue sky like the ends of Dali’s iconic moustache.
Other artists just had fun with the theme. Look around the corner of Punchgut’s mixed media “Hello Goodbye” and you’ll see a character ready to make his entrance. Peak under the leaf of fabric artist and gardener Clare Degerness’ Jack-in-the-Pulpit Nightmare and you’ll see the source of those nightmares.
Mark Anthony / Contributed
“Sometimes the theme happens to fit in a direction an artist is going in,” Rutter said, pointing to Jess Matson-Fluto’s “Backspin.” The painting shows a chicken in a 8 ball helmet wearing roller skates against a decorative gold leaf design on a blue background.
Contributed
At first Chris Mortensen’s photo looks like a straightforward image of a rusting and fading metal sign on the plains, similar to some of his other work. It may not turn your head at first, but reading the accompanying text will lead to a number of double takes. Mortensen asked friends to write clinically dry descriptions of landscape scenes (“The horizon runs along the lower third of the frame,” “The sky is blue, light to darker from the horizon up”) without naming locations. He took one friend’s submission, broke it into sections and used those descriptions in online searches to find images, which he then used together to recreate the suggested scene.
Guests can cast their votes for their favorite work through Saturday, Aug. 17. The winner recieves the Joel Heggerle’s People’s Choice Award will be announced the next day. The show is on display through Sept. 1.
