Eva Lake hosts the Radio Zine. The topic of conversation: Lesbian Art Show, a Dada-inspired exhibition that explores lesbian culture and features mixed media collage, drawings, sculpture, and installation, by Azsa West and Mary McAllister, at Fontanelle Gallery through Saturday.
Azsa West and Mary McAllister cohabitate in majestic Portland, Oregon where they met and fell in love. They belong to a group of talented young comrades who inspire each other through conversation, ambition, and creativity. Their activities are infused with the desire to strive towards a unique and personal definition of being lesbian. West and McAllister are interested in documenting this ethos, from studying its roots as represented in historical literature and photography, to producing and participating in contemporary queer culture.
Lesbian Art Show represents the timeless and chaotic style of Dada, the intimacies of Left Bank lesbians in the 1920s, and the revolutionary spirit of queer ephemera combined with personal experiences from a recent European adventure, lesbian lifestyles, strange habits, the need for order and documentation, large type, and perhaps most importantly, true love. The works on view often utilize textual diagrams to illustrate ideas. Through graphs, maps, exquisite corpse, and Venn diagrams, they deliver their observations and revelations. In addition, there will be an installation constructed collaboratively with Aubree Bernier-Clarke, and finessed with respect for historical representation and compassion for community.
My guests are Leslie Miller, co-owner of Fontanelle and Mary McAllister, one of the artists.