whitehot | Summer 2007, WM #4: The Strychnin Gallery
Strychnin: A Modern Salon Article by Sylvie Gassaway The Strychnin gallery is tucked neatly away on 33rd and 10th in the upper limit of The buzzing of Booth’s tattoo gun grows louder as one enters the gallery in the rear, providing the distinct realization that here is a place where art is happening. The brilliance of Strychnin lies precisely in this sense of movement, which is present in nearly every piece of work hung on the walls. There is no denying that the artwork at Strychnin demonstrates incredibly fine craft and articulated artistic vision. But there is also no question that this art is often forced to be recluse in small off-beat galleries around the world. By shallow definition, this is “dark art” but it has found its Mother Mercy in gallery owner Yasha Schultz-Young, who prefers the work to be categorized as “surreal,” if it is to be categorized at all. It is her mission to lead the movement of surrealist art out of the periphery and into the steadfast gaze of the modern art world. The last exhibit for this year at the “The idea was to get old people like Byron, Shelley, Bronte, Emily Dickinson… have them connect with today’s artist.” And to allow them “ … a way to connect to these theories in their work and have a re-gathering and reawakening of the older days when people actually had this kind of movement,” explains Young. For this exhibit Strychnin brought together artists from the UK, the Netherlands, from The intensity of Strychnin is not the subject matter of the artwork. Rather, it is the phenomenal attention paid to a movement in art itself, this collective art happening that is taking place under the skin of the art world and manifesting itself on the walls of the Strychnin galleries. Although Young has galleries in Young’s point about what inspires artists and the product of that inspiration is an interesting one. On the one hand, war and destruction have been immediate sources of inspiration for artists throughout the centuries of art history and many of the images from past periods could easily be labeled as “dark,” just as that found on the walls of Strychnin. One example would be the artwork commissioned by the medieval Church in an age of very low literacy, depicting “the doom” or “the last judgment” as a means to portray the consequence of sin to those who could not read scripture. (An exemplary image is Memling’s “Day of Judgment” triptych with St. Michael weighing souls, the torsos of the condemned, twisting and impaled by demons as they plummet into hell.) This art served a distinct purpose and was just as emotive as Michelangelo’s rendering on the Sistine Chapel; both examples were inspired by the same theology with remarkably different outcomes. It follows that one inspiration can be catalysts for images both “dark” and “light.” What is so ironic about Young’s expression, “not all sunflowers and roses,” is that she unintentionally – and against her own very intelligent understanding of artists and their craft – dichotomizes art into opposing categories, whether of content (flowers versus skulls) or of mood (light and dark). The limits of this opposition are illustrated by two pieces by Daniel van Nes in the Salon Macabre exhibit: two incredibly delicate, beautiful and dark woodcuts and prints of a rose. Young denies that she is an artist, citing as proof her inability to draw a straight line. Her artistry, however, is not all together different from Laurie Lipton’s pencil drawings or Van Nes’ illuminated engravings. Like Lipton, Young is drawing together artists from around the world, placing them side by side and in cross-hatch to create an intricate and powerful collective image. Like van Nes she is carving out space for these artists and bringing to light all the finery and awe of their creations. The impetus behind the Strychnin gallery is both a simple and profound appreciation of art. Young is candid in her attitude as a selector and curator for Strychnin exhibits: “I show what I like. I show what pleases me, what moves me, what I think is executed beautifully, a medium that I think is very interesting. It just so happens that it has different subject matter.” Alternative art is culturally ubiquitous, but it is not given equal value or space in the world of high art. Strychnin is working to change this in two ways; the gallery began as an answer to a need and has become a collective voice posing intelligent and important questions in and to the art world. Strychnin is not missionary in the sense that it seeks to convert viewers into followers of alternative or surrealist art. It might instead be considered educational, in that it demands witness. Young is aware that the art at Strychnin may not be easily digestible to mainstream audiences, but she is not interested in segregating artists, their art, or viewers into categories of particular taste, “we don’t want to put ourselves into another niche; we want to be spreading the work.” The Strychnin Gallery in
In berlin: Boxhagener Strasse 36 10245 Berlin, Germany
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.jpg "Summer 2007, WM #4: The Strychnin Gallery")
