BARE Insignificance

It seems as if The Whole 9, an art gallery on Washington Blvd. near La Cienega in Culver City, spent more time and effort on the flyer to promote their most recent event, BARE, than to find worthwhile featured artists.

Although free wine was offered to persons 21 years and older this past Saturday evening, it was not enough to keep a large crowd. In fact, upon entering the event a couple of onlookers said, "there is only one or two artists worth the while in the entire gallery."

This in addition to the confusing artist, Marston, Lord of the Cello, a performer playing an electric cello with only a neck and no body at the doors of the event, would be clue enough that this was not what the flyer made it out to be.

BARE, the collective art showing of nudes, seemed more of a high-school artists' collection than that of professionals who are paid for their works. Most of these professional artists were mediocre at best. There were of course two exceptions. The works of Stephan Canthal and Patti Meyers creatively and tactfully addressed the nude study.

Canthal was the more impressive of the two with his innovative choice for metal as a photographic medium. His unique process of doing this has taken him roughly six years to master. When asked about why his nude model never showed her face he said, "I felt it would take away from the appreciation of the body."

Although Patti Meyers' more classical approach to art pales in comparison to Canthal's, it was enough to openly appreciate. Meyers' biography adjacent to her work in the gallery said "she finds beauty in the most ordinary form expressed in the lines associated with the figure."

This is completely true. Although the price demanded for her minimalist figures was much higher than the gallery should be asking for work such as this, her work is definitely worth investing in if the prices dropped.

Overall, this event was a bomb and students are advised to spend their time looking at other galleries on La Cienega. If anyone is still interested in this gallery, or simply curious of Canthal's and Meyers' work, the showing will extend through April 4, 2009.