Fountain Street uses ties to bring in big-city art

New York City -- long known as the artist Mecca of the United States, a place where the American art world turns to check the barometer of trends.

It's a long way removed from Cape Girardeau, a town full of artistic talent, but with a much smaller population and lower profile than the Big Apple.

But this month a little piece of the New York art world can be found in the river city. Starting tonight the Fountain Street Gallery will host an exhibition called "Big City Concerns" from Chelsea's Viridian Artists, a co-op of contemporary artists from around the world based in New York.

"It's all contemporary work, 21st-century art," said gallery owner Sarah Riley. "Certainly people can see larger works in New York, but this is a great opportunity to see a piece of the New York art world."

Everything in the 20-plus-piece exhibition is 16 by 20 inches or smaller -- nothing that will cover that big empty space on the apartment wall. Despite the art's diminutive size, there are still plenty of interesting pieces.

A mixed-media collage that appears to depict a ladder to heaven; a lifelike painting of two small fish on a used cutting board from Japanese artists; a painting accented with calligraphy using U.S. currency as a background and Christ on the cross being worshipped by Puritans in the foreground -- every piece is different.

Riley would never have gotten the show without the help of Fountain Street Gallery artist Kathy Smith. Smith is an art professor colleague of Riley's at Southeast Missouri State University and, fortunately for the gallery, a member of the Viridian Artists.

Smith said the group is serious, not just a vanity project for pompous artists.

"We're paying dearly to be able to keep and maintain our space, so they're picky about where they're going to put their work," said Smith. "It really says a lot that they were willing to participate in the Fountain Street Gallery."

Smith said the co-op gallery is one of New York's oldest, founded in the 1970s in Soho to provide a space for women and minorities to exhibit work at a time when those opportunities were rare.

"Viridian has been around a long time, and has produced a lot of good artists over the years," said Smith.

The co-op takes its abstract, conceptual art all over the world, from Japan to France. Smith has reaped the benefits by showing her work in countries thousands of miles from home.

But a stop in a town the size of Cape Girardeau is rare.

And this may not be the last time Viridian Artists come to town. Smith is working to get the gallery director, Vernita Nemec, to the Southeast campus in the fall for a lecture.

msanders@semissourian.com

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