Made In The USA: Let Freedom Ring, opened last week and runs through August 9th at TAG Gallery in mid-Wilshire. The exhibition will be one of the largest to date and a concept that TAG’s president Bob Chew describes as one of three annual group shows that help promote the gallery to the art community. “This year, we are honored to have the illustrious art critic and former KCET Arts and Culture Editor and KCRW Commentator, Edward Goldman, as the juror for our largest national juried show. The Artists Gallery has always tried to showcase local artists and emerging talent around the country, with members coming from across the country, from Seattle to Maine, Maui to Florida, and now internationally. Being an art collective, we wanted a way for non-members to experience the terrific space and spirit of TAG.”
For more than 30 years, Edward Goldman has been an art critic and host of Art Talk, a former weekly program that aired prime-time Tuesday evenings during All Things Considered on LA’s largest NPR affiliate, KCRW 89.9 FM. Edward also contributed weekly art reports to the Huffington Post and has written reviews for numerous art publications and served as a panelist, moderator, and speaker for various museums, arts organizations, and workshops.
Through an anonymous jurying process, Goldman reviewed approximately 550 submissions from around the country to choose 100 for the TAG exhibition. He will also choose Best of Show, three winners for cash awards, and Honorable Mention Awards for Excellence for each medium included. The awards will be presented at a reception and ceremony TODAY Saturday, August 3, from 4:00 -8:00 p.m.
Jurying a show of this size can be a daunting task, but Goldman is a veteran, and says for him, it was not that hard. “For me, the most important thing is that the art must grab my attention. I look for original work that stands out, like a breath of fresh air. The longer it holds my attention, the higher it’s ranking, and that helps create the list of possible winners. I look for something that surprises me, is perhaps somehow challenging, and makes me want to spend more time with it. There are sometimes works I have juried that I want to own, as they hold my attention for a long time.”
Selecting the Best of Show and the other winners often calls for jurors to see and select the award winners in person rather than from a computer screen. Luckily, Goldman has three days to review all the work at the gallery during the installation process. “To choose the winning artworks, I must see the work up close, in real life. Keeping my mind and eyes open, I look forward to meeting each piece of art, to see how they communicate in person. I listen intently, getting very close to the work. That way I can observe the dimension and intensity of each brushstroke, hear it, smell it, and perhaps even touch the work. Art that speaks to me, that has a voice I can sense from the texture or the spirit of the image, that is how I make my decisions.”
Participating artists have been alerted but have not yet been announced to the public on TAG’s website, www.taggallery.net. With a widely diverse collection of art in all mediums, it will certainly be a dynamic, inspiring, and thought-provoking exhibition. The Artists Gallery invites all art lovers to view this exceptionally curated exhibition and attend the awards reception to meet the participating artists and winners.
For Made In The USA, submissions were open to all residents of the US over the age of 18, with all styles and mediums accepted. Artists submitted paintings, drawings, photography, printmaking, mixed media, sculpture, digital, and video art. Each year, the number of submissions grows as the word of the exhibition spreads amongst the art community and is advertised nationally through PR Wire and other media outlets. Formerly named The California Open, this year’s MADE IN THE USA presentation builds on many years of TAG’s experience curating national exhibitions.
Goldman will be walking through the exhibition and speaking at 3:00 pm today prior to the reception which starts at 4 p.m. tonight. An art talk with the winners will be held on the final day, Saturday, August 10, at 1:00 pm.
- Guest Post by Dale Youngman; photos provided by Youngman and TAG Gallery