May 6, 1998
'Exquisite Corpse' reflects most unusual taste in art
By Garret Leiva
Herald staff writer
Many artists strive to create a body of work. Then there are those whose body of work is truly artistic anatomy - a pterodactyl head here, Mr. Peanut legs there.
As art exhibits go, the "Exquisite Corpse" is not for the squeamish, or the overly serious, for that matter.
On display at Watermelon Sugar Gallery on Front Street, the 17-piece "corpse" collection wreaks of wry irreverence and abstract absurdity. One look at the exhibit and it's hard not to imagine that, somewhere, Salvador Dali's mustache is smiling.
The exhibit, which opened with a reception Friday evening, also invokes a word synonymous with surrealism artwork: unusual.
But this is not your trite, garden variety unusual. No, this is artwork that combines images of Jesus Christ and the Bee Gees atop Mr. Peanut's lower extremity.
"The work demonstrates a lot of movement. Strong, bold pieces that pull you into it," said gallery part-owner Chris Lopez, describing a few of his favorite pieces from the exhibit, including this one: a painting that uses Uno game cards as one of its mixed media.
"Usual is anything that you have people looking at and saying, 'I really hate this or I really like this.' But this work you have to explain why you feel that way. ... It makes you expand your horizons."
Indeed this art form is unusual, clear to the roots of its paradoxical name: Exquisite Corpse. The "corpse" began life as a game invented by the Surrealists in the early part of the 20th century. Played with three to four artists in Parisian Cafes, the game required each person to draw a part of the "body" but keep the work concealed before passing it to the next player. The art form appealed to artists, allowing them to work together while retaining their own creative autonomy.
This practice still holds true today. The Traverse City collection is only a fraction of a larger exhibit of about 50 pieces created by groups of artists, most of whom live near Ann Arbor, noted Lopez.
Artists, however, are not the only ones enthralled with the concept. Visitors to the Front Street gallery also found the work appealing.
"I've never seen an exhibit like this. I was reading about the procedure and I think it's a wonderful idea," said Traverse City resident David Guidas, examining a piece with an hourglass torso and legs laid out on a gurney with a dead-on-arrival toe-tag reading, "Art Doe."
And while a picture may be worth a thousand words, Acme Township resident Rachelle Babcock found a few appropriate words to eulogize the Exquisite Corpse.
"It's funky; it's fun," she said. "Maybe to some it might be a little bit obtrusive, but I see it as not serious art, but art simply meant to be enjoyed."