“How does the show look?” asks the man in the crisply ironed shirt and smart specs standing behind yours truly, Curtain Calls —or, as he occasionally thinks of himself in anagram, “I Cull Art Cans.” But CC isn’t on the lookout for cans today; he’s looking at mugs, and the McGuffey Art Center is filled with ’em.
“Tonch”
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Fortunately for your squinting author, Blake Hurt—son of Dr. Charles W. Hurt, founder of the Virginia Land Company—has offered Curt a tour of his exhibit.
“People have incredible skill for identifying faces,” says Hurt. “And, as soon as we see a face, we look for intent.”
Blake Hurt describing his work. |
In “About Face,” each subject’s intent becomes more or less visible depending on how closely you view Hurt’s work—like an introduction, you learn more about each subject as you spend more time with each.
Hurt writes computer programs that correlate line drawings and his images, then allow the colors of each portrait to seep through the interconnected line drawing. “Like Jell-O through wires,” says Hurt. To create the intent that Hurt associates with each face, he creates line drawings from items associated with each of his subjects.
At the northern end of McGuffey is a piece titled “David In Memoriam,” a portrait of David Breeden, the late artist who is lately well known as head of the family that sold its Biscuit Run land to developer Hunter Craig. The image comprises commemorative objects from Breeden’s memorial service: song lyrics from his son Christian (leader of American Dumpster), a photo of one of David’s sculptures. Also included in each image is a barcode that bears the identifying information for each portrait.
Near the middle of his exhibit is a piece that Hurt created at the request of a friend, a portrait of a man identified only as “Tonch.” It’s an image of “how the wife thinks of how her husband thinks of himself,” says Hurt. From within a heap of playing cards, golf scores, a riding lawn mower and a drawing of his wife peeks “Tonch.” Nearby is an image of Hurt’s son, Reed, called “Irreversible Additions”: Reed returned from college with strong feelings about his organic chemistry class, and Hurt incorporated his son’s school notes into the image.
Hurt typically runs his program 10 times or so until he finds a version of each portrait that he is satisfied with. “It’s a bit like shooting apples out of a tree,” says Hurt with a smile, and Curt wonders what his face looks like to Hurt.
Rick ’n’ roll
A mysterious invitation from occasional C-VILLE photographer Ross McDermott leads Curt to the Frank Ix building to attend an anniversary party for Happy Rickshaw, started a little over a year ago by Ian Ayers and Christoph Herby, who both greet CC at the door. Inside their enormous space, 35 people or so mill around beneath red and yellow strands of lights and inverted lamps, drinking from kegs marked “PBR” and “Killian’s” and eating plates of salsa-smothered Mexican food from El Taco Atododar, the local traveling taco hut.
Why the late celebration? “Well, business picked up about this time last year,” says Ayers. When asked about business plans for the next year, Ayers mentions a hope for greater coverage of the Downtown Mall, though he says that the finest three-wheeled ride in town still does its best business around the Corner. Happy Rickshaw has four riders out and about town from 10pm until 2:30am each night, reachable by calling 98-SMILE.
Curt thanks Ayers, grabs a brew and a seat on an empty rickshaw adjacent to the equipment for Straight Punch to the Crotch, local acoustic-gone-funk favorites, and watches as one of Happy Rickshaw’s crew pedals two guests around the inside of the warehouse, weaving between structure-bearing poles.
Once, twice, three times…
After brief screenings at Vinegar Hill and the Regal Downtown Mall 6 (and by “brief,” Curt means shorter than his patience for upcoming Wes Anderson flick The Darjeeling Limited, which, dear reader, is real flippin’ short), Once returned for a brief engagement at Vinegar Hill. CC grabbed a special gal and two tickets and caught the flick.
Once is the story of two buskers (Charlottesville connection!) that meet in Dublin and get all doe-eyed while singing beautiful tunes—some of the finest vocal melodies you’ll hear all year (penned by the performers and director, who log time in bands including Irish rock band The Frames). Like Hedwig and the Angry Inch meets Before Sunrise—grab the film when it arrives at Sneak Reviews, or grab the soundtrack now at Plan 9 or Sidetracks.
Before we go…
Curt spent the morning of Thursday, October 4 in a conference room at The Paramount Theater to bring you the goods on the line-up for the 20th annual Virginia Film Festival program, “Kin Flicks.” You can check the full line-up by visiting vafilm.com. For now, however, here are the three shows you’ll find CC munching popcorn at:
Hoop Realities (November 1, Newcomb Hall): Lee Davis’ documentary follows up on his Hoop Dreams subject, Arthur Agee. Both David and Agee will attend the screening, a world premiere.
Autism: The Musical (details TBA): A documentary look at five autistic children that create and execute their own musical performance.
Sandra (November 1, Regal Downtown 4): UVA film professor Walter Korte deconstructs Luchino Visconti’s surprisingly Tenenbaum-like 1965 film.
Tickets are on sale now. Remember: Don’t be a hater—be a spectator.
Got any art news to share? E-mail us at curtain@c-ville.com.
