Kinsey Juried Art Show opens Friday

Transgendered dolls, an erotic Pinocchio and “naked chicks on rocks” — as described by featured artist Dave Levingston — are just a few of the things to see at the Grunwald Gallery of Art this weekend.
 
The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction will present an opening reception for the eighth annual Kinsey Institute Juried Art Show Friday.

The free exhibit will be on display to the public through July 13.

Jurors selected 94 out of 924 contemporary works of art submitted by artists from six countries.

The jurors include Nan Brewer, curator of works on paper at the IU Art Museum, Betsy Stirratt, director of the Grunwald Gallery of Art and Catherine Johnson-Roehr, curator of art, artifacts and photographs at The Kinsey Institute.

Johnson-Roehr said this was a record high for the number of submissions the show received.

“We received about 200 more art submissions than last year,” Johnson-Roehr said. “This gives us a high-quality pool of art to select from. We tried to get a real interesting mixed-media exhibit.”

The artworks include paintings, photographs, ceramics, sculptures, fiber art and video installations created by artists from across the U.S., Canada, France and Germany.

Each piece acts as a social commentary on topics including sex, gender and identity, though the show was originally founded as an erotica exhibit in 2006, Johnson-Roehr said.

“We do include erotica, but as an institute, erotic art doesn’t encompass all that we do,” Johnson-Roehr said. “We deal with gender issues, identity, relationships ... We deal with a lot more issues than just sex and this show really represents that.”

The Kinsey Institute Juried Art Show exhibits fine art dealing with the human body; this ranges from more explicit images of body parts and sexual encounters to less obvious depictions of similar topics in nature scenes or portraits of people in their homes.

Dave Levingston, a photographer from Ohio and a contributor to the Kinsey Institute’s permanent art collection, will present his photograph “Kat in the Red Groove” at this year’s show. The photograph is of a nude woman posed harmoniously within the naturescape of the red rock formations in South Coyote Buttes in Arizona.

“The underlying idea is that all that we understand as beautiful in nature derives from the female figure,” Levingston said. “When cavemen stepped out of their caves, what looked like a woman was then called beautiful.”

This is the second time Levingston’s work will be displayed in the Kinsey Institute Juried Art Show.

“My work has been shown frequently in other juried shows and galleries, but this show is a special one for me,” Levingston said. “It is very difficult to get in and it is a real honor to be chosen.”

Another returning Kinsey art show artist and IU adjunct professor in the School of Fine Arts, Kevin O. Mooney, also photographed the human figure in an unusual way.

Mooney’s photograph titled “Double-breasted” is his fourth selected work in the art show’s eight years, he said.

Mooney aimed to challenge peoples’ perceptions by layering hundreds of squares in a pixelated fashion that changes resolution depending on viewer distance.

The Kinsey Institute Juried Art Show provides an outlet for artists that is not often found in galleries or juried shows elsewhere.

“It is an opportunity that not all artists have in most places,” Johnson-Roehr said. “Even today, pieces that deal with the body and nudity can be an issue with audiences, then explicit sexual content can be an issue for some galleries.”

Not all of the artwork is focused on the human form. Rita Koehler, a visual artist from South Bend, Ind., was selected for her project titled “Rite of Ordinary,” a series of photographs documenting the lives of more than two dozen same-gendered couples in Northern Indiana.

Koehler explained that these portraits are social and historical documentaries of same-gendered couples, as well as political statements.

“It challenges who lays claim to the home sphere, to family, to relationships,” Koehler said. “I want viewers to be open to these questions.”

Koehler said her project will be adopted into the permanent Kinsey art collection, which has been collecting art since the 1940s.

The artists expressed a shared appreciation for the Kinsey Institute’s dedication to art and research.

“I’m a big fan of the Kinsey Institute and their work maintaining the importance of gender and sex that is often neglected in science and even art, and we suffer from that,” Levingston said. “And the Kinsey Institute is really doing something about that.”

The Kinsey Juried Art Show will award the artist whose work is voted “Best in Show” with a $300 prize. A $200 prize will be awarded to the work voted “Gallery Visitors’ Choice” on Friday night.

The show aims to spark dialogue about topics in the artwork, Johnson-Roehr said.

“I think people will find it very interesting and worthwhile,” Johnson-Roehr said. “You may not enjoy every piece, but there is such a range of work you can definitely find something to appreciate.”