Real Tinsel Gallery ‘Seeks out the Edges of Things’

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Use the term “edging” in 2023 and it often conjures images of a sexual act (for most people). But the current art exhibit at Real Tinsel Gallery entitled “Edging” comes from a completely different place—and time.

Real Tinsel gallery director Shane McAdams found inspiration in the 19th century quote by art historian T.J. Clark in his The Painting of Modern Life: “Art seeks out the edges of things, of understanding ... It prefers the unfinished: the syntactically unstable, the semantically malformed.”

McAdams has taken that concept and applied it to the works of five artists featured in the exhibit: Tom Burckhardt, Clare Grill, Chad Hallblade, Daniel Jensen and Kalina Winters. And in case  you’re wondering if the art come first and then the concept, McAdams applies a consistent approach to all of his shows.

“I’ve had it in my head for a long time,” he says. “Like all my curated shows, it started as an abstract concept and materialized as I found work for it.”  

When viewing an artist’s work, especially in a curated exhibit, it’s natural to “label it” within a certain category art to better define and ultimately understand it. “Edging” challenges the viewer to consider the ambiguity contained within—something all five artists share in their exhibited works.

“Well, they all feel like they might resolve into the objective world, but frustratingly, or wonderfully, stay right in the crease between abstraction and representation,” McAdams points out.  

But then there’s the themes within “Edging” that reflect upon our society, past and present. And look closely enough, and “Edging” can appear timeless within the realm of these works.

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“A big one is that most things live in-between,” he points out. “Most human constructs aren’t absolutes: freedom, identity, laws, opportunity, pleasures, victories ... but our world teaches us, encourages us to believe in absolutes and to take sides. The truth is a lot of what we think is certain sits on the edge of resolution.”

And as much as the “Edging” exhibit can be open to interpretation given its ambiguity teetering on the “edges” of absolutes, one thing is certain— the interplay between art and viewer, the past and the present, the future and…?

“The resolution in the potential is something that the viewer completes,” explains, McAdams, adding, That's why I loved the idea of ‘Edging’ and its sexual connotation; because in the end it’s a reciprocal relationship.”

“Edging” runs through December 3 at Real Tinsel Gallery, 104 West Historical Mitchell St.  For more information visit realtinsel.com.