An Enjoyable Pain – Dontré Major’s thoughts on selecting the PS21 Juried Art Exhibition

 

Wow, my first time selecting, curating, and judging an art exhibition, such an enjoyable pain. I never thought I would have the opportunity to do something like this at this point in my career and do it solo at that. No pressure!

Throughout the entire selection process my anxiety was through the roof. All I could think about was that I wanted this exhibition to be amazing and really wow the audience, but not so much that it turns them off. Do I keep a little bit of the Charleston aesthetic or do I leave it behind and show something completely different? It also did not help that there were so many amazing works and that I wanted everyone to have at least one of their pieces seen, but sadly I could only choose 80.

There goes that anxiety again. How do I pick between so many good pieces? Am I experienced enough to say whose is better than the other? Who do I think I am, judging artist that have probably been doing this for years? Is my love of contemporary, abstract, and minimalistic art going to be too much for the viewers? Oh no, what if they hate it all together? Nope I’m done I change my mind I don’t want to do this anymore. These were the things going through my head with every other piece I looked at. Then finally I had to tell myself, “Hey, guy! If you don’t calm yourself down, you were asked to do this for a reason. There is something about you that they wanted to see. So, stop being so critical and do it.” That’s when I decided that if I must choose by myself, then choose something I would want to see in an exhibition here in Charleston. Something different!

That is how works like “Deject” were chosen, I mean being able to get those fine details of fingers, toes and nails in bronze, just wow. To even try to consider how much focus, time and dedication had to go into that just blows my mind.

Or, “History is Now And Us” because this one had my initial reaction like, “Wait, what is going on here? Oh, this is too weird I have to keep looking at and through this one.” I mean just so many little parts here and there hidden all throughout that just made you have to look deeper into it. Amazing!

I also looked for pieces that moved or spoke to me personally like “Can You Hear Me?”. To me it spoke to the divide between people, with them being in different frames, but yet they are still trying to connect with one another and bridge that divide.

Especially the photograph “Pray You Make It Home,” which speaks to me on a more personal level being a person of color and seeing those young boys waiting for the bus by themselves. I do pray that they, other people of color, and everyone can always make it home safely to see those we love.

The pieces I chose were meant to challenge your thought, force you to look deeper than the surface, and feel things that are bigger than ourselves. I just hope I chose well.

Peace and Love, Tré.

– Dontré Major, 2021 Piccolo Spoleto Juried Art Exhibition Juror