empathy

The Blue Eyes Behind Dead Dreams

Asya Geisberg Gallery‘s “Hearsay” will take you by surprise. There are so many layers of psychological, emotional and gender issues melded in the jutting rusted nails, marble chunks and prissy pink paint. When I bumped (literally) into Julie while making my way to the rear of the gallery, she took time to explain her motivation to me. “The visual inspiration is my childhood and adulthood spent in Cleveland. The cloudy, stormy weather and decaying vintage architecture all helped create these pieces.” She then went on to explain that she wanted to portray the “powerless feeling in domestic objects” and sees these items as “Dowries Rediscovered.”

  

Altogether they show the heavy burden placed on women to amass these material objects to snatch a suitable husband. And why the title “Hearsay”? Julie quite ingeniously wanted to show how women’s voices are not heard and are generally cross-referenced in the man’s world where their voices are not fully respected.


Truth: Stranger than Fiction


Oddly enough, just moments after making this fantastic statement it was proven in an unbelievably dramatic fashion. I almost felt as if I was witnessing first-hand a brilliant art demo and yet it was nothing more than a sad truth of reality on display. Julie was just about to share a meaty piece of advice for other artists, when a man jutted himself between us without apology or care. He proceeded to act as if I was not there and began, in broken English to begin a conversation that neither Julie nor I could fully comprehend. The only part that I heard clearly was “I am European. I am from Europe.” His meaty index finger continually jabbed in the air between us as he repeated the same messages with conviction as if to drill it in our heads. He then acknowledged me and asked if I was an “expert.”

 

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