Fri 7/6 @ 8-10:30PM
Sat 7/7 @ 6-9PM
When the first Cleveland FRONT International Triennial for Contemporary Art was announced nearly two years ago, the excitement was mixed, with grumbling about local artists being excluded. Never mind that part of the idea was that local galleries, studios and other spaces would be energized to put together their own shows during the three-month time span of the Triennial, July 14-September 30.
But last year Cleveland’s six-year-old nonprofit Collective Arts Network, which publishes the quarterly visual art magazine CAN Journal, tackled the local part of the equation, announcing its own CAN Triennial to run through the month of July, focused exclusively on local artists — including a music series, a film series and a group of site-specific installations. CAN Triennial will fill 78th Street Studios with art starting this weekend with a benefit preview party Friday night and the official public opening Saturday. It runs through Sun 7/29.
Ninety artists were selected from the nearly 550 who submitted. They include artists whose names are well known in the area, as well as up-and-comers and those just recently out of art school but showing promise.
Of course, Cleveland being Cleveland, the grumbling continues from artists who were among the “rejected,” and there are several shows going on around town that style themselves as “salon des refuses,” emphasizing their indignation ay being rejected. Never mind that they’re doing exactly what it was hoped artists would do to add value and broaden the amount of work available for out-of-town visitors to see.
And many more artists than those officially selected will be on view at 78th Street throughout the CAN Triennial, as the building’s resident studios and galleries, along with area commercial art galleries and arts organizations, will be hosting their own stables of artists. A conversation with a local painter who didn’t even submit revealed that he will be part of the CAN Triennial with two different gallery groups! The amount and type of work in the CAN Triennial will be truly enormous.
Tickets to the Friday evening event are $35.
The opening party Saturday evening @ 6-9pm is free. There will be a cash bar, and music by the Bobby Selvaggio Trio and DJ Marcus Brathwaite.
Cleveland, OH 44102