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Don't Be Fooled By Size Of Exhibit

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 26, 2007

TAMPA - Bleu Acier defies the art scene's prevailing post-Christmas doldrums with an opening and closing this weekend.

Opening is "The Greatest," an exhibit of small works by three New York artists. Guest curator is artist Carrie Mackin, who owned the now-closed Covivant Gallery and Studios in South Seminole Heights.

"The title is a play on words about size," Bleu Acier owner and artist Erika Schneider said. "But great artwork doesn't have to be large. It can also be very intimate and very small, and then the viewer can feel one-to-one with it."

The artists are: Ain Cocke, who uses the military man as a model in paintings and drawings that explore masculinity; Chantel Foretich, whose miniature paintings and dioramas recall a bygone era; and Trong G. Nguyen, who has written the entire text of French poet Stephane Mallarme's "Igitur" on individual grains of rice.

"Perhaps he is going against the grain of the digitized library," Mackin said in a telephone interview from New York. "What we're talking about is a sort of nostalgia in the process. It's about how this has nothing to do with the technology of the times."

"Igitur" is the story of a young boy who experiences the idea of chance, Mackin said.

"It's a philosophical take on the idea of chance," she said.

As "The Greatest" opens, the exhibit "Tales of Japan and Other Stories" by Marie Yoho Dorsey closes.

Both events are celebrated in a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at the gallery, 109 W. Columbus Drive. Mackin will attend the opening.

"I'm happy to have Carrie back in town," Schneider said. "It's nice to have her vision. New York's been good for her and she's been good for New York, developing her thought processes."

Call Schneider at (813) 272-9746 for information.

Correspondent Esther Hammer can be reached at (813) 835-2108 or ehammer@tampatrib.com.

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