Beauty and the Beholder

On Friday, September 13 the Cincinnati Arts Association's Weston Art Gallery in the Aronoff Center for the Arts premiered three exhibitions to launch its eighth season: I Morti, a contemplative five-channel video installation by Cincinnati video artist, Charles Woodman; Desire, Tunnel & Wheelchair, a new series of provocative video installations by Gagik Aroutiunian (Chicago, IL); and Beauty and the Beholder, a group exhibition of Cincinnati artists curated by Emily Buddendeck, director of the alternative exhibition and performance venue SSNOVA, that examines the tantalizing subject of voyeurism.

Emily Buddendeck, director of the alternative exhibition and performance venue SSNOVA, is an artist and curator known for her creative thematic exhibitions which she began organizing in 1998 as director of Sanctum Sanctorum, an alternative exhibition space that preceded SSNOVA. Her experiences as a volunteer for the Weston Art Gallery (1997-99) – during which she served as a gallery monitor positioned in the highly visible and heavily trafficked street-level exhibition space – was the inspiration for Beauty and the Beholder. This unique glass-box setting placed her in the dual role of observer and observed by the many pedestrians passing by the busy intersection of Seventh and Walnut Street that forms the outer boundaries of the Weston Art Gallery.

For this intriguing group exhibition, Buddendeck has assembled a diverse cast of Cincinnati artists working in a variety of media who explore the multi-faceted subject of voyeurism and its relation to human nature. The exhibition will encompass the gallery’s street-level atrium space and extend into the lower-level entry to include a variety of installation-based works incorporating video, film, photography, digital prints, sculpture and performance.

Participating artists include: Joe Barnett and Emily Buddendeck, who will present a collaborative opening night performance, Jane Durham, Ybette Inojosa, David Michaels, Rachel Rampleman, Janet Riddell, David Rohs and TODT.