EXTRA TIME DRIVE-IN EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
May 9—June 6, 2020
Shari Reuschel wanted to learn how to paint, but she never had the time. When West Virginia got stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19, she painted a small painting of beets and send a photo of it out in a group text. Some people made jokes about the painting (“That’s the worst cock and balls I’ve ever seen!”) and some people in the group started sharing photos of things they were working on. At some point, someone said, “It’s too bad that no one will ever see these things we are making.” At that point Arni and I realized that we were perfectly equipped to be open during a pandemic: Our space is in an old fire truck garage perfect for driving into! And so EXTRA TIME DRIVE-IN was born.
Most people involved were not artists, and through word of mouth the invitation extended to professionals—but we wanted them to contribute things they didn’t normally do. We decided to take whatever anyone gave us to install n the space until the point came that we could have a closing party with guests in person. We started with Shari’s painting of beets, a sculpture made of weeds from my mom’s garden, some bird houses, flower bouquets, and a mobile made of animal bones, and ended—8 weeks later—with a varied assortment of over 75 pieces of art made by non-artists and artists from our community.
With warmer weather came more outdoor activities and submissions to the show have dropped off. So we decided to close the exhibition on May 30, 2020—well before this pandemic is over and we would be able to have an actual, live, in-person party. Instead, we will host a collaborative de-construction of the show, with people coming to fetch their work back during the closing hours.
Forward
by noted art critic Jack Leonard:
EXTRA TIME DRIVE IN is an art show, but what is an art show? Art is more than just a medium for human expression—it is also a reflection of the multitudes of the human condition. When we define what is art and what isn’t, who can create art and who can't, who is an artist and who isn’t, we limit and chain down the impetus of creation and the spirit of the human soul. Art in and of itself has no meaning. The meaning comes from our cognition and active internalization of the denotational and connotational aspects of the metaphysical and corporeal vision of the artist. That is to say when we appraise and construe a work of art, we arbitrate the pith of the matter to us, which may not be the aforethought message, but still an efficacious one. A little known quote that I think of a lot is by an author named William Shakespeare. He proclaimed that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Whether we interpret a painting as a beet, a turnip, or a Cock and Balls, it is still the same resolute arrangement of paint. If we take this as fact, then does it matter who created the piece? In these times the muse of creative expression has come to earth and bestowethed her divine inspiration to more and more people, the fruits of whoms labor has borne the pulchritudinous works you now see before you. Behold in awe the art, in all its coolness and awesomeness!
Artists
Interviews with selected artists from the project:
Works
Click on a thumbnail to see a larger image. Hover over image for title, artist, and media.
The Exhibition
We think of this show as a community installation—where all the individual works make up the whole! Here are some images of the whole!
Press
Get Out Loudoun, May 15, 2020. “Artistic Accomplices and Roadside Attractions; Loudoun Artists Shift Gears with New Focus on Community” by Jan Mercker.