Narrative Provocations: In Search of Innocence
This year, the Julio Fine Arts Gallery opens with Narrative Provocations by Loyola Professor Emeritus, Christopher Lonegan, PhD. The exhibition is full of thought-provoking wonderings to guide you through the gallery. The paintings themselves have a range of themes, styles, and vintage aesthetics juxtaposed with modern situations. This exhibition serves as a culmination of Dr. Lonegan’s work: decades of teaching and the exploration of philosophy and how it interacts with art.
The paintings that stood out to me focused on children with masks. The section is marked by two papers, one reads “These small panel ‘photographic inventions’ deconstruct their origin as snapshots… crop the image, alter color or value, change scale…hunt for provocative fissures in pictorial logic…’ Search for affects and mythic resonances disguised in the everyday…After a death the family gathers for a Halloween photo, a shadow from beyond the frame haunts the image…” While the other paper on the opposite end says, “…Children on the threshold of change wear the masks and hats fashioned by their own hands, by social class, race, heredity, gender, temperament, nurture…I made drawings of these kids decades ago, but it took years of teaching and painting to understand these images…Painting is a way to understand being in the world” Throughout so many of these paintings, shadows loom over the children, reminding me that their childhoods aren’t forever. In a way I find myself anxious for them because I see myself in them and for the world that waits for them. Their innocence cemented in frames, yet the shadows of adulthood and death don’t fade.
Dr. Lonegan’s exhibition allows viewers to build their own stories for the paintings for them. He explores a variety of themes, prodding viewers to develop their own narratives.
My interpretations may be different from yours, so visit the gallery and allow yourself to be swept away with the stories the paintings share.
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The exhibition runs from September 3 – October 6, 2024, with a free public reception on Thursday, Sept. 19 from 5 – 7 p.m. Please join us to celebrate the career and artistic trajectory of Loyola’s own Professor Lonegan!
To learn more about the Gallery’s programs and current and past exhibitions, visit julioartgallery.com or call 410-617-2799. Follow us on Instagram, @JulioArtGallery, for updates!