Strong Prospects

Local shows for art biennial shine a light on BR art scene

Look around. Art is everywhere. Of the three Louisiana cities that have taken on Prospect.3 New Orleans regional exhibits this year, Baton Rouge really ran with it.

The third iteration of the art biennial in the Crescent City expanded its scope this time around to include companion shows in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Hammond. Across our fair city, 14 venues have stepped up to devote gallery space to Prospect exhibits featuring a diverse and exceptional cast of local and national artists.

The shows started popping up in October, and most continue through this month, with all exhibits across the state wrapping up Jan. 25.

Curators for the Baton Rouge arm of Prospect.3, including the Arts Council, Elevator Projects and The Walls Project, have developed what’s amounted to a months-long arts festival with a weekend of opening events in November, live art and live sculpture demonstrations, a graphic arts poster contest, public lectures, documentary screenings and more. All the while, locals have witnessed multimedia works, video installations, sculptures and much more popping up around town.

At the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, for example, ongoing exhibits include massive works by Jason Hackenwerth, Heather Hansen and Holton Rower—including two balloon sculptures that stand two stories high. LASM used the biennial to launch a series of exhibitions, titled “Capital City Contemporary,” that highlights dozens of local and regional contemporary artists. There’s also a video installation by artist John Gray in one of the museum’s windows, which is viewable from the street.

The crowning achievement, though, appears to be what’s happened on the vacant fourth floor of the Chase Tower South downtown. Once a maze of bland office space, the entire fourth floor has been converted into a gallery of contemporary art, with more than 80 artists showcasing works. Some have taken over small office suites with their installations, while others have their pieces staged in the wide-open interior rooms.

It still feels like office space right out of the ’80s, with low, paneled ceilings and aging gray carpeting, but it’s packed with vibrant and intriguing art instead of the typical cubicles.

Elevator Projects’ Raina Wirta and LSU Museum of Art’s Rodneyna Hart organized the invitational for the exhibit and curated the fourth floor space, dubbed Healthcare Gallery 2.0. The result is a show that mirrors the scrappy, DIY elements often seen in Elevator Projects events, while shining the brightest spotlight yet on the enormous amount of emerging talent we have in the region.

“I really want to make a significant impact on people’s understanding of the quality of work coming out of here,” Wirta told us in October. “We want to make sure that the message that’s delivered to the city is one that embodies the collaborative spirit of the biennial itself. For Prospect, they believe that art engenders progress, and in that same spirit that’s what we do.”

Prospect.3 in Baton Rouge

The local exhibitions, collectively called “Notes Upriver,” are tied to New Orleans’ art biennial. Find out more at elevatorprojects.com and prospectneworleans.org.

DEC. 5: A reception for new works by LSU School of Art graduate students at the Healthcare Gallery at 3488 Brentwood Drive. thehealthcaregallery.com
UNTIL DEC. 5: Works by Donna West, Mel Dewees, Susan Robert and Demond Matsuo at Ann Connelly Fine Art. Works from Andree Carter, Kate Blacklock, Chuck Voelter and Cynthia Giachetti start up Dec. 8. annconnelly.com
UNTIL DEC. 7: Prints by physician and printmaker Eric Avery at the Glassell Gallery in the Shaw Center. design.lsu.edu
UNTIL DEC. 12: The exhibit of installation, video and sculpture by Miami-based artist Anja Marais in the Firehouse Gallery at the Arts Council. artsbr.org
DEC. 17: ART21 documentary screening at Lagniappe Records. lagniapperecords.com
ALL MONTH: Kelli Scott Kelley, Nari Ward and Leroy Neiman at the LSU Museum of Art. David Contreras and Raina Wirta at the Gallery at Manship Theatre. DesignBR Vol. 2 poster contest winners in the atrium of the Shaw Center. Charles Barbier in the Capital Park Welcome Center. Group and solo works at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum. Invitational exhibit with more than 80 artists on the fourth floor of the Chase Tower South. Group exhibition at The Walls Project Art & Design Center.

Official closing reception will be during the Surreal Salon Soiree Jan. 24 at the Baton Rouge Gallery.