Photo credit: Jack Stolz, Courtesy of USMInstallation view, Embodying Softness/Excavating Delight, 2023. University of Southern Maine Art Gallery, Gorham, Maine
Two visiting artists, Libby Paloma and Jackie Milad, currently have side-by-side shows at the art gallery on USM’s Gorham campus, and both shows are well worth seeing. While each artist created her own show separately, the pairing has been conceptualized with the title “Embodying Softness, Excavating Delight.”
Libby Paloma is a multidisciplinary artist based in the New York area and the nearby Hudson River Valley. She is known for creating three dimensional installations, for her performance art, and for her soft sculptures. She has been described as an artist who creates gentle environments, often featuring humorous encounters. Her installations are seen as “invitations” to enter a more “restful, tender world”, where things can be “fluffy and puffy.”
Paloma’s current soft sculpture installation at USM is entitled “No Picnic.” It focuses on a whimsical yet somewhat bittersweet view of a picnic scene, which includes a large plate of enchiladas, a fish, fried eggs, a roast chicken, a lemonade pitcher and lemons, a pink birthday cake, clouds, raindrops, the sun, and rainbow-colored balloons.
Nearby, two dimensional prints depict related objects, such as milk, pickles, can of worms, fish, a hot air balloon, a picnic basket, and a spoon, many with clever, witty captions. Paloma has stated that the installation’s combinations of elements are metaphors for living with a chronic illness, and that the bittersweet quality is a necessary byproduct of efforts to work toward a new, softer reality.
The exhibit of Jackie Milad of Baltimore, Maryland comprises several large mixed media wall hangings. The content of the various collages reflects Milad’s diverse influences, which could also be seen as having a whimsical quality. These influences range from images of recently discovered artifacts from Honduras’ indigenous Lenca culture, to lyrics by Bad Bunny and other rappers. Milad’s interest in the Lenca people of El Tigre Island in Honduras stems from her mother’s heritage in that region, as well as the fact that many culturally important objects have recently been unearthed there by archaeologists.
Milad has stated that her creative process sometimes mimics the processes of excavation which archaeologists might use, yet emphasizing her own interest in interrupting the usual linear way that history is depicted.
The two exhibits will remain on display until Saturday, Dec. 9. The USM Art Gallery is located on the Gorham campus at 5 University Way, near the main campus entrance, just off College Avenue. The gallery is housed in a historically significant 200-year-old building, which once served as a Gorham town meeting hall.
Gallery hours are from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The gallery will be closed during Thanksgiving weekend. A $2.00 payment is requested from all visitors.