Understanding of art making becomes clearer through ongoing conversation, experimentation, interpretation, presentation, and discovery. The act of planning and assembling a large exhibit, and undertaking the installation of the works always pushes the envelope of my awareness of just what the work is.
The concept of “Pantheon,” applied formally in a title as a binding element, began with my graduate work at the University of Cincinnati – for my thesis exhibition entitled Elixir: A Pantheon of Allegory. However, the deep seeds of thinking regarding the “temple to all gods” and my own work reaches far back to the mid-eighties and undergraduate germination. The work presented here, at Berea College, is a direct extension of my earliest mature artistic concepts, and has a history of evolution spanning at least seventeen years, although, almost all of the artworks on view in this exhibit were completed within the past two years.
Upon realizing that this exhibition would be presented in an architectural space with 24’ high ceilings, a balcony gallery where one could peer down into a lower space, and with a spiral staircase connecting the two it was immediately clear that my idea of Pantheon had finally found a space to complement the concept. The Traylor Galleries instantly became, in my mind, the long sought cavern for my cave paintings of the 21st century.
The drama of human persistence on earth, across time, in all its subtle and not-so-subtle manifestations, as well as my witness to it as both onlooker and participant, motivates this imagery. The gods in this Pantheon are not deities by any classical measure. They are the people, characters, emotions, thoughts, objects and events that propel humanity onwards, and mark our passing.
As you stroll through these carefully planned installations and view singular objects from up close and afar, you also cross through the web of connections between the paintings, entangling yourself in their drama. To enter this space between the struggle and the thoughtful, penetrating gazes is to feel as if you have entered a painting, and an event that is occurring in time, not frozen. The anticipation is that something is happening, and that you might be changed, perhaps given something, as you pass through. With your entanglement you become a member in the Pantheon. The result, I hope, is your enlightenment in the form of self-discovery.
The physical nature of standing above or below a painting, then changing one’s position relative to the artwork to being that of equal, lower, or higher stature is quite compelling to me, both as the artist and a viewer. To move through the galleries is to see light change on the surfaces of the artworks, and to witness brief yet potent and seemingly accidental reflections and juxtapositions like ghosts in the air whispering hints of meaning.
In this way the entire exhibit is designed to be, like a temple, a place of contemplation, experience, and stimulation. It is a philosophical and emotional house of large and small ideas, and essences incomplete without the missing variable of your participation. They come awake and aware at your presence, and sleep when you leave.
Assume that there are many layers of meaning in these works and their arrangement. Also assume that it is intended for you to devise your own interpretation, connections, and story for the art. “Pantheon” includes the variable of interpretation in order to promote the discovery of your own creativity while interacting with mine. Now I ask only that you decide what it all means. Rest assured, there is no one right answer.
The gods of this Pantheon will not deliver wisdom. You must engage, and discover it latent.
Jason Franz
March 2004
Cincinnati, Ohio
Copyright © 2004 Jason Franz