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Crowd Control
TV and comic-book artists reflect pop culture
at the Cement Space.
FRANK PROVENZANO SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
ground-type gallery
which opened just a
year and a half ago, may
just prove that the ex-
pression of the soul lin-
gering amid television
ratings is developing
into a full-fledged
movement.
This "entertainment
for entertainment's
sake" motif is reflected
in Panter's bold imagery
and vivid landscapes. To
Allen and Stephanoffs
credit, the Cement Space
is the first local gallery
to exhibit Panter's work.
As one of the artists in
the East Village move-
ment, Panter draws on
his highly animated car-
toon characters from his
comic book, climb°, to
reach a "tough and raw"
nerve of those who've
been bred on comics, vi-
olence as portrayed on
television and mass-me-
dia marketing.
With severed heads,
cryptic imagery and fix-
ations on things like
death, dying and having
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I
he dizzying imagery of
MTV has set a standard
that extends beyond tele-
vision and reaches into the
visual arts. The MTV mentality
has given wide popularity to the
notion that if it's entertaining,
then, by gosh, it's worth watch-
ing. It may not be the way of high
art, but you can't argue with the
ratings.
The notion of "art as enter-
tainment" is the launching pad
for the latest exhibit, titled
"Crowd Control," at the Cement
Space gallery located in Detroit's
Rivertown district. The show
features the work of Emmy
Award-winner Gary Panter, rock-
poster guni Derek Hess and local
artist Glen Allen, who is co-di-
rector of the gallery along with
college friend, Scott Stephanoff,
a Center for Creative Studies
grad.
"There's a competition for-
attention among television,
movies and music, so you have
to realize that people are always
looking for something new, dif-
ferent and entertaining," said
Stephanoff. Ironically, the goal
of offering something new, dif-
ferent and entertaining also falls
Crowd Control poster
by Derek Hess.
"Jimbo — beguiling,
spike-haired, heroic —
attempts to survive in a
disintegrating world,"
according to his
creator, Gary Panter.
in the realm of corn-
merce, which hard-
ly seems anathema
to pop artists since
Andy Warhol shed
light on the myth of
a starving artist.
For artists like
Panter, Hess and
Allen, television
and pop culture is
the great common
denominator and
the shared well of
inspiration. During the last
decade, fine artists have used
TV's collective consciousness of
reruns and icons to express how
the soul lingers in an indifferent
universe of electronic celluloid:
The Cement Space, an under-
fun, Panter's work has gained
prominence for dealing with
post-punk" themes. In fact, an
image of the character Jimbo in
a futuristic, sci-fi nightclub being
carried off by a mob where he
mutters that he's "riot surfing"
((