Articles

“We both wanted to do something that wasn’t just an art show but something with a social impact,” Lynn Stromick said in regards to her and her partner Jillian Nakornthap’s, (both curators) desires for their exhibit.

Describe your space, what's going on now and what your plans are.
The space is a one-of-a-kind municipal project – a medical clinic – built by the Portland Mothers Board with funds donated by Mrs. J.B. Speed in 1926 on 1/3 an acre on Portland Avenue. Due to the building’s unique construction, its basement and foundation sit half out of the ground making the first floor a good 10-12 feet off street level with a grand flight of stairs leading to the front door.

Say, who? The issue of identity tugs at us all, not just artists like Paul Gauguin or Cindy Sherman.

Bryce Hudson, a nine-year expatriate of Columbus, Ohio, to Louisville, gives us his take on 11 "Kentucky Gentlemen" in a series of photographic prints at Gallery NuLu, 632 E. Market St., second floor. There is a black bellman, a Hispanic house painter, a Chinese student, a white NASCAR fan, a Jewish man with dreadlocks, a character named "Thuglife," a freckle-faced Irish type named Rob, a long-haired Latino with a dynamite shirt styled "Miami Bryce" and the artist himself, "Bryce."

Ironic.

Millions are connected at the level of intimate thought and images via the Internet, but in the physical world -- and Louisville is an example -- traditional neighborhood boundaries can defy those connections.

One Louisville artist and entrepreneur is among those building new connections in the physical and virtual worlds.

"In the spirit that made this city a city, I'm a pioneer, pushing west," said Bryce Hudson.

An artist represented by Louisville's Gallery NuLu, Hudson also is a successful Web designer, and he opens the first exhibition -- of digital art, naturally enough -- at his new combination gallery and studio, Plexus, in the Portland neighborhood west of downtown Louisville.

Log onto www.yyyyyyy.info and you may think something is seriously wrong with your computer. With the exception of a few passages, you'll have trouble making sense out of much of the script, as if you're trying to read in a dream. The images, upon first glance, may seem distorted or out of place. But relax. Your computer is fine. This collage of symbols, colors and images are all part of a web-based art project by San Francisco based artist Michael Guidetti.

Guidetti's work, along with pieces by several other young artists and art students from across the country, are part of Build a Fire, a new exhibit of technology-influenced art that opens Friday at Plexus Contemporary.

Bryce Hudson was one of a handful of local artists at the beginning of this decade who was taking responsibility for contemporary art in Louisville . . . before anyone seemed to care. 

With social struggles and modern American culture as his issues, Bryce would stage shows in downtown warehouses with peers who were aching to do the same thing. This proved to be an exercise in perfect timing and soon a community grew up around the scene with curators and collectors seeking local talent.