News Article

New nudes subject of joint exhibition


5/21/2009 9:25:01 AM


Photo at left, "An Ounce of Tokyo Milk" by Melanie Smith, oil on canvas. At right, "River", by Lorne Bishop, oil on canvas. — Submitted photos

TARA MULLOWNEY
The Telegram

As a student in the visual arts program at College of the North Atlantic, Melanie Smith says she was famous for getting into arguments with Lorne Bishop, one of her instructors.

The pair would engage in daily lunchroom debates over every assignment he gave her, as well as about the nature of art and its place in the world.

Now, about eight years later, Smith and Bishop are not only friends, but colleagues, and are holding an art exhibit together later this month.

“She told me that she would invite me to every opening of any show that she would ever undertake. I basically laughed at her and said she would forget about me as soon as she graduated,” Bishop said. “I had to eat my words in 2004 when Melanie launched her ‘Journey Worthwhile’ exhibit at the Rogue Gallery, and I received an invitation.”

The seed for the joint show, entitled “Confluence of Influence,” was planted during another of Smith’s exhibitions, in 2007 — to which Bishop was also invited.

“At the pre-show festivities, I happened to mention to one of Melanie’s friends that if I were ever to partake in a two-person show, Melanie would be the person with whom I’d do such a thing,” Bishop explained. “It wasn’t intended for Melanie to hear, but she was standing close by and asked me to repeat what I said, so I did. She asked me if I was serious. I said yes, and she said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Coincidentally, both Smith and Bishop — whose last solo exhibition was in 1992 — had been contemplating doing a show of nudes.

“Confluence of Influence” is an exhibit of both Smith’s and Bishop’s work, based on the modern nude, and is, in part, an examination of pareidolia, the ability people often have to see images or faces in objects (examples include seeing religious figures in ordinary objects or landscapes, or hearing “hidden” messages in music played in reverse).

“The nude is a classic image, and there’s a challenge in painting so much flesh,” Smith said. “All the people that posed for me were friends of mine, and it was a learning experience for both of us.”

While Bishop’s influence in her work is often evident, Smith said, their perspectives are completely different, and their styles are unique.

“Lorne is a realist, his painting is very precise, elegant and soft,” she explained. “Mine is a little more untraditional, with brighter colours.”

“Her discretionary use of colour assists the viewer to come to a deeper understanding of the emotional character of her subjects,” Bishop added. “(My) figures are intentionally depersonalized and subordinated by formalistic concerns.”
No longer teacher and student and now artists on the same level, Smith and Bishop mentored each other during the execution of the pieces.

“I’d ask him for advice all the time, like, ‘I need this colour green — please help me,’” Smith said with a laugh, while Bishop insisted the exhibition wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t for his former student.

“Confluence of Influence” opens at the Flower Studio, 124 Military Rd. in St. John’s, on May 24, and runs for a month.

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Re-printed with permission from The Telegram, www.thetelegram.com