:::Matt Mignanelli:::

Newport This Week

Monday, March 06 2006

A Piece Of Your Mind

“A Piece Of My Mind”
Where: Deblois Gallery, 138 Bellevue Avenue
When: Through Friday, March 24
Hours: Tuesdays - Saturdays 12 noon to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 3 p.m.
Information: 401-847-9977

Aging, politics, drinking and sex were the hot topics of choice at “A Piece of My Mind,” an all-media art exhibit that opened at DeBlois Gallery last weekend.

Among the show-stoppers was “Power Figure,” a broken, porcelain penis with photos of Pres. George Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice transferred onto it. Created by Valorie Sheehan, the gallery coordinator, it represented the current administration. “Bush is the devil incarnate.” said Sheehan. “I thought there would be more political stuff. I can’t believe everyone isn’t up in arms.”

Attached to the piece is a fetish which Sheehan said was used in Africa to protect one from or to disarm an enemy. What’s the asking price for such a controversial work? Free to anyone who will deliver it to the White House. On a lighter note is “The Nuns,” a photograph of three women taken by J. Derek Edwards of Pensacola, Florida, who lived in Newport for 15 years. He said it represented his 30 years at sea as a ship’s captain gazing at the horizon.

“I took it in 1976 on Ocean Drive,” he recalled. “I was cruising Ocean Drive like I did almost everyday. I was slithering like a commando trying to capture the shot without the nuns knowing I was there. They were watching the America’s Cup Races. It was a chance encounter where I happened to have my camera in my hand.”

Lauren Burke, a junior at Salve Regina University, submitted “College Collage,” a collage which lights up and is made from pictures of friends and Absolute Vodka advertisements. She said she was required to do a personal piece for an advanced design project and being that she continually gives her art projects away as gifts, this was a work she could keep for herself.

“This time I was inspired by my friends,” explained Burke who recently won first place in the BOSS Art Show. “It’s a keepsake. It’s stuff that reminded me of my first year living on campus with my friends. I just turned 21. There’s cocktail recipes on it. It’s something I thought would be interesting.”

Matt Mignanelli, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, said his painting entitled “Well Done” represents his approach to humor. It’s a cartoonish acrylic with ink on panel of a man barbecuing outside with a glimpse of a nearby woman.

“I like to, in a lot of work, leave it open to the viewer to let the imagination run,” related Mignanelli. “With subtle but prominent overtones. I think it would take away from the piece if everything is showing. It allows people to relate to the piece and project themselves onto it, what they want to see in the piece.”

Sheehan explained that DeBlois Gallery does one open a show a year to give everyone the opportunity to exhibit a piece. As a non-profit, zits mission is to promote emerging and regional artists.

“Whether or not people will like the exhibit, they’ll find it interesting,” added Sheehan. “It’s certainly a mark of what the artists are doing in the community.”