EXHIBITION PRESS DOSSIER · 2018 · OCCCA
REMEMBER: AN AIDS MEMORIAL RETROSPECTIVE
REMEMBER asked artists to bring AIDS, grief, memory and survival into the room. Barbara entered five works, including monumental canvases. The press record is compact but unusually rich because it sits beside Barbara’s own written answers, where she connected the paintings to Hollywood, Chris, memory and “life and joy in the face of sorrow.”
Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, December 1–29, 2018, opening on World AIDS Day. Three artists: photographer Kurt Weston, who organized it; Barbara; and Alexandria Allan. The five works the magazine featured were not the whole of her wall—the opening-night photographs show nine.
WHY SHE SAID YES
“My work is really not at all about AIDS.”
Her own account: she and Kurt Weston had shown together in several exhibitions of blind and visually impaired artists and had long discussed a show together. She had reservations; he convinced her that some of the text work could carry “remembrance, death, resurrection, spirituality, hope and loss.” The 1980s Hollywood club paintings were considered and set aside—too lively beside his black-and-white photographs.
ON THE WALLS
Nine works, photo-confirmed
Hard Rain (2007), Hope & Loss (2007), St. Louis Cemetery (2017), Requiem (2018), Last Lady Trane (2017), Fire: Burn (2009), Let’s Dance (2018), Our Nature (2018), Sexual Healing (2018)
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas · various sizes, 30 × 40 in. to 108 × 90 in.
What Comes After Black (2001) was supplied for press; not seen on a wall. Mother Earth (2011) carries her own question mark.
THE PRESS
Her words, in print
A&U Magazine ran the three artists “in their own gently edited words.” Voice of OC profiled Weston and named her in one sentence. The Los Angeles Times listed the show. Weston’s own page names her.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Barbara on the paintings
The nature of perception is a theme in my work. My own perception is distorted due to “Swiss cheese” holes in my vision caused by a retinal degenerative disease which has rendered me legally blind. What I am able to see changes from moment to moment depending on changing light conditions and my own alertness and sense of well-being.
My paintings explore this state of flux—accidental encounters of forms and colors within a structure of layered symbols and texts. Texts are quoted from a variety of sources such as songs, news headlines, junk mail, fortune cookies, and works of literature. There are also original texts such as alphabet poems, haikus, reflections of personal experience and streams of consciousness. Themes are explored on many levels, from an urban, female viewpoint.
Inspiration for the paintings often comes from audio sources, particularly musical compositions. Elements of landscape and nature combine with urban graffiti, pop icons, pictographs, hieroglyphics and other ancient language texts in these often large color-field acrylic paintings. The thrill of color upon color, which I can see in varying degrees, drives layer upon layer. I create original stencils to incorporate symbols and icons of imagery which I can no longer draw freehand. The viewer is invited to traverse the canvas and create his/her own poetry.
Kurt Weston and I have shown together in several venues which featured artists who are blind or visually impaired. We had long discussed doing a show together. When he was invited to put together a show at OCCCA he invited me to join him. He decided upon the theme of “Remember” and planned the show for an opening on World AIDS Day.
I had some reservations, as my work is really not at all about AIDS, but Kurt convinced me that some of my work could relate to the theme. At first we considered using paintings which I had done in the 80s that reflected the underground lifestyle, based on years of living in Hollywood, going to clubs, and hanging out on the scene. However, we decided this colorful and lively work was not exactly right in the context. Aesthetically these colorful paintings didn’t work with Kurt’s black-and-white photo images. I decided on using my text work, which is more current and from which I could find more relevant pieces.
Although this work does not explicitly refer to the AIDS crisis, the themes of remembrance, death, resurrection, spirituality, hope and loss we felt could work for the show.
For instance, the painting St. Louis Cemetery contains the text of the poem by that name written by my late husband C. Natale Peditto—inspired by his visit to the famous New Orleans site. That text is overlaid with the lyrics to “Walk on Gilded Splinters”, a voodoo song by Dr. John. Hope and Loss is a giant crucifix of canvases covered with losing lottery tickets, overlaid with the words “Hope” and “Loss.” The painting Requiem contains lyrics to the song by Laura Nyro: “when I die, when I’m dead and gone, there’ll be one child born in this world to carry on.”
My work, even when confronting sad or serious themes, I hope reflects a sense of life and joy in the face of sorrow.
“HOPE AND LOSS is a giant crucifix of canvasses covered with losing lottery tickets, overlaid with the words ‘Hope’ and ‘Loss.’”
“The painting ST. LOUIS CEMETERY contains the text of the poem by that name written by my late husband C. Natale Peditto—inspired by his visit to the famous New Orleans site. That text is overlaid with the lyrics to ‘Walk on Gilded Splinters’, a voodoo song by Dr. John.”
“My work, even when confronting sad or serious themes, I hope reflects a sense of life and joy in the face of sorrow.”
— Barbara Romain, prepared answers for the REMEMBER press interview, September 2018
THE PRESS RECORD
What was written, printed and photographed
Every press release below states two facts: whether Barbara is named, and whether her artwork is highlighted.