Sons of the South: Episode One

Last Saturday's opening for Sons of the South: Episode One left me with mixed emotions. On one hand, its great to see Atlanta's big hope for wider recognition show some great work all around. And I do believe that is the idea behind Sons of the South, some of the bigger names in the emerging underground art scene working together to make a blip on a bigger radar. I could go into my opinions on each artists work, how they've improved or impressed me (they did both), but I'd rather mention something else. It seems that with both this exhibition, as well as the print show a few months back, all of the themes and concepts that are generally put into making a cohesive show have been replaced by a common goal of exposure for our emerging art scene. On paper this seems like a perfectly reasonable basis for an exhibition, but in person you realize that the content, style, and execution by each artist is too disparate to rely on cooperative motivation alone. With 13 artists coming together, one can hardly expect continuity of aesthetics. That being said, I think that this first group of artist (Bethany Marchman, BORN, Steven Dixey, Rene Arriagda, Dan May, and Tyson McAdoo) are a bit more varied visually than the group showing this Friday at Rabbit Hole Gallery (John Tindel, Dosa Kim, Charlie Owens, Michi, Sam Parker, and Omer). I think that we're going to see more continuity between artists this time around based on over lapping styles, but that doesn't make an exceptional show. I think what I'm trying to say is I'd like to see more focus to these shows than just "this is the best Atlanta has to offer in terms of emerging artists." Coordinating a group of artists in heavy demand is surely no simple task, but to put a show together that does justice to the talent of these artists would be something to make the art world take notice.
Episode Two is this Friday, March 14th at the Rabbit Hole Gallery. 7-11.