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A Look At This
Month's Art Scene ...

Marji Silk:

Orpheus
Cranbrook
Statue, 1987.

Anniversary

Marji Silk celebrates her 10th anniversary as a fine-arts
photographer with an exhibit, "Southwest American Im-
ages and Recent Work," running through March 16 at the
Swan Gallery, 1250 Library St., Detroit. For almost a
decade, she has used color photography to portray
cityscapes, landscapes and particular areas of the coun-
try. (313) 965-4826.

Above: A collage by Nanci Meli Walker of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Joel Shapiro: Untitled, 1995 hardground etching.

Shapiro Etchings, Wood Sculpture

Joel Shapiro, who was commissioned to create a 24-
foot sculpture for the United States Holocaust Mu-
seum in Washington, D.C., is the subject of a current
exhibit, "New Etchings and Painted Wood Sculpture,"
continuing through March 30, at the Susanne Hilber-
ry Gallery, 555 South Woodward, Birmingham.
Shapiro has been awarded a Visual Arts Fellow-
ship from the National Endowment for the Arts and
a Merit Medal for Sculpture from the American Acad-
emy and Institute of Arts and Letters in New York.
His work is included in museums such as the Met-
ropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Israel
Museum in Jerusalem. (810) 642-8250.

Suzanne Chessler is a freelance writer who compiles and writes
our "Hanging Around" Fine Arts pages. Ifyou have information
about art happenings you wish to have considered for our fine
.arts section, including show openings and ongoing exhibits,
please send your information, including photos or slides, three
weeks prior to publication date to Suzanne Chessler, clo
The Jewish News, 27676 Franklin Road; Southfield, MI 48034;
information may be faxed to (810) 354-6069.

S

trongholds of pop culture
— television, movies, ra-
dio, recordings, comics
and even neon signs —
have become the subjects
of a group of visual
artists bringing their
works to the Paint Creek Cen-
ter for the Arts in Rochester.
"Hoi Polloi," the March 1-April
5 exhibit, presents the images
and concepts of 20 young artists
from across the country as they
react to the devices of mass com-
munications.
"The majority of the artists
chosen for `Hoi Polloi' have nev-
er known a world without tele-
vision," said Glen Allen, who is
curating the show with Scott
Stephanoff, his co-director at the
Cement Space Gallery in De-
troit.
"Reviewing the slide submis-
sions for `Hoi Polloi' was a lot like
channel-surfing through televi-
sion.
"Some of the same criteria we
would use for stopping at one
channel were the same criteria
we would use for selecting the
works to be shown — attrac-
tiveness, aggressiveness, edu-
cational content.
"I like the works because they

tie into a lot of things happen-
ing in popular culture and the
world of commercial art. They
are going to give a lot of people
who normally don't go into an
art gallery a reason to step in-
side," said Allen.
Styles from figure painting to
mixed media sculpture are rep-
resented.
Judith Jacobs, an Ann Arbor
collage fancier combining paper
elements on a paper surface,
brings Heroes in Yellow to the

What The
Hoi Polloi
Is All About

SUZANNE CHESSLER

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

show.
"Avoiding harmony and pret-
tiness, I like the lively, often
flashy look of street art and pop
culture manifested in graffiti,
concert posters and comic
books," she said.
Nancy Meli Walker of Brook-

lyn also works with collages, but
hers are comprised of computer
video frames, glass-plate pho-
tography and painting. Her
works, including Romio, are
based on neon images she saw
in Japan.
The two curators, who became
associated with Paint Creek af-
ter being nominated to its exhi-
bition committee by a friend,
were asked to work on "Hoi Pol-
loi" because of similar shows pre-
sented at the Cement Space
Gallery.
"We tried to select `Hoi Polloi'
works so they can be appreciat-
ed on many different levels. We
would hope there's an instant
gratification and entertainment
value," said Allen.
"If somebody wants to invest
the time and effort to look more
deeply, I think the level of ap-
preciation can only grow."

"Hoi Polloi" will be at the
Paint Creek Center for the
Arts, 407 Pine Street,
Rochester, from March 1-
April 5. Gallery hours are 10
a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Satur-
days. Opening reception is
from 6-9 p.m. March 1. (810)
651-4110.

