Tin Soup/Brian Wedgeworth Exhibition Review

Just a quick review.

Right now, in our very own backyead, we have an awesome Gallery...I mean awesome gallery with the folks over at the TinSoup gallery. I am really impressed with what they have done with their space over on St. Francis (and if you folks may not know where it is located, go to downtown Brownsville and go south on St. Charles towards the Virgin Mary Tree or Valley Transit Bus Station, when you reach the intersection with the virgin mary tree house at the corner (10th st I believe), make a right and it will be on your immediate right when you reach St. Francis. It's also the only red warehouse building...(that is how I found it)....

And no, I am not being generous with my praises. Their gallery is impressive, has been recently expanded and has the makings of any upstart urban gallery you can find in Austin or San Antonio, and that makes this blogger's heart beam with art school nostalgia, aesthetic content and Brownsville pride.

The Brian Wedgeworth show was the first opening I had attended at TinSoup and I was even more outstanded by the quality of his work. You see, I took two friends with me, whom had never attended a gallery opening before or know much about art in the "art world" sense...so like many people when affronted with minimalist art, they say something like "I can do that"...let me tell you...welding and minimalist style....hardly anything to do with easy...HARDLY....because when it comes to handling welding and heavy steel...you main objective is to make a PERFECT and I mean perfect seam so that nothing will detract from the form of the object (like distracting textures, misproportions and a blotchy technique...and I can say, that Brian Wedgeworth's technique was nothing of the such...they were marvelous pieces...from small mounted pieces to large, free standing sculptures...his work is monumental and heart-felt. My favorite piece "Amoured Heart"... was this awesome steel heart with gun barrels for arteries...heck yeah that is cool! Don't we all wish we could have amoured hearts at many points in our lives?

TinSoup also had some pieces from their pasts shows, like work by Hector Aristo (whose painting technique is impecible, go take a look at the detail on "El Angel del Aborto" which he painted on a mannequin) and Cande Aquilar (whose abstract expressionistic collages/paintings always show me something new, like his piece "Matasville", which I had seen before at the NMCAC) and Arturo Figueroa (whose suitcase photobooth installation is very clever and was finally awesome to see after hearing good things about it...how many times does one get to see installation art in Brownsville?)

So yeah, that's my sorta mini-review. I only have good things to say about Tin Soup and Brian Wedgeworth. The only thing I could request is to get women artists represented in future shows...let's get women artists more representation and recognition in general! Here is some perspective on the issue. Gotta love those Guerrilla Girls..