Tetrad Collective: An Unexpected Battle of the Sexes Got Smelly

On Thursday Amber and I went to the Jenkins-Johnson Gallery for, "Stories Today," the opening of our good friend Lisa Schmaltz's work. Later in the eve we walked a couple blocks down to the Evergold Gallery for the work of Josh Short and Jeremiah Jenkins. With Schmaltz's decidedly feminine work that heavily references the domestic, Short's testosterone driven performance referencing football stadiums and monster truck rallies and Jenkins' Samurai armor made out of industrial materials, the night turned into an unanticipated rivalry of the sexes between the two galleries.

Interestingly enough, scents were integral to both of these shows and furthered the dialogue of the feminine/masculine. Schmaltz's work (pictured above) is made by staining and fragrancing paper and fabric with coffee and spices, while Short's toy size monster truck rally, delightfully set to the soundtrack of Slayer I might add, reeked of the fertilized dirt that lined the piece (pictured below). It's the interior/exterior nature of these smells that adds to the sexual polarization of the shows, the interior scent of coffee and spices associated with the feminine, the exterior scent of fertilizer associated with the masculine.

It's pretty cool to see both these shows occurring during the same month. Connecting the dots is real fun and it's too bad this kind of thing doesn't happen more often between galleries.

One more thing: not to be missed is Jenkins' installation, "Blue Collar Bushido," (pictured below) which also amps up the masculine by talking about the coincidences between the lives of the ancient samurai and the contemporary manual laborer, two profession traditionally associated with males.

Here are some links to check out if you are interested in more information (and better pictures of the work, these were all taken with my point and shoot at the openings) on the artists:

www.schmaltzart.com
http://www.joshuashort.com
www.evergoldgallery.com
www.jenkinsjohnsongallery.com