The Sculpted Wall at Terminus 200
Sculptures by Michi Meko, Pandra Williams, Mario Petrirena, and Steven Sachs. Photo courtesy Gallery Walk at Terminus.
Located in the heart of Buckhead, the Terminus office towers have designated both of their lobbies as exhibition spaces since the buildings were added to the city skyline in 2007 and 2009. Terminus 200’s second exhibition, The Sculpted Wall, is on view through April. It features work from several Southeastern artists, some of which is on loan from local collections.
Although it is exciting for contemporary art to greet the broad range of people who visit the high rise, limited space presents a significant problem when displaying sculpture in any context. Unfortunately, the close proximity of the work on display in this urban space forces each piece to become part of a decorative pattern behind a glass vitrine.
Sculptures by Ben Roosevelt, Gregg Hill, Kevin Cole, and Karen Rich Beall. Photo courtesy Gallery Walk at Terminus.
When Properties by Ben Roosevelt was first shown in 2008, hundreds of small steel building façades gathered and dispersed as they surrounded the viewer. At Terminus, however, the work’s overwhelming scale is reduced to a limited selection of the original shapes. A small grouping of orange shadows surrounded by fixed boundaries is a significant change from Roosevelt’s original suggestion of urban sprawl.
The Sandler Hudson Gallery loaned Mario Petrirena’s wall-mounted Clay Domes for the exhibition. Petrirena often uses memories of past experiences and a combination of American, Cuban, and personal imagery to understand and translate his mixed identity. Each dome is glazed with nostalgic floral patterns and handwritten text. These small and sensitive details make it difficult to experience the work within such a confined and guarded context.
The Sculpted Wall also includes interesting works by artists including Greely Myatt, Michi Meko, and Chakaia Booker. If you stop by Terminus 200, don’t be discouraged by the distraction of the display—the art is worth a look.
I know. . .the “exhibition” space at Terminus’ lobby really says so much in it’s bizarre presentation. (good photos!)
The typical commercial vitrines presenting neatly mounted “art” are political artworks in themselves; they so harshly interrupt intimacy with the works. . .instead of endearing business people with art, viewers walk past unimaginative store fronts. the “art” is separated and locked away. you’re kind of forced into seeing it as expensive product display, instead of as precious expression. . . I’d almost rather they just hung traditional landscape paintings framed in gold. at least that would be funny. (unless their going to really go overboard with this unique chance to make full blown window art in a weird place, they should just leave product display to the America’s Mart, downtown.
or someone needs to pay a designer architect to make some really weird lighted glass containers for art objects and put them in the middle of that uber corporate space. . .