Eleven 17 at the Wine Exchange
Words and Photos: Crystal Farina
Artwork by David Lucas Bell/Tanja Harmon

Appeared:
October 26, 2007
Old Hyde Park Village, Tampa
 
After the Suncoast Cinemas, an independent film theatre, closed in Old Hyde Park, it was to many a dismay. Adjacent to the vacant space is The Wine Exchange, a hidden corner of pride and class in the Tampa Bay area. Recently, Rob Haskew, a.k.a. Eleven 17, transformed the space into a single-night gallery of 13 local artists from the Bay area and around Florida. DJ Sirius constructed the aural impulse over the visual atmosphere, while Haskew stated, “I love art and I want to pay back the art scene.” Finding most of the artists online, Haskew brought together a small, painted empire of much more than whimsical expression. Mostly non-conventional art lined the walls, and every young artist’s mission was to vibrantly convey their purpose.

Against the dust-sheathed Sunrise box office windows lied Melissa Ora-ath‘s array of naked and iridescently painted female bodies with foreground cursive statements such as, “I don’t want to write myself off as being weak.” The artwork was so rhythmically curved and fluid that I had to ask her technique, which to my surprise, was acrylic finger paint. The 22-year-old from St. Pete stood before me at her first art show and explained that she steps on the littered paintbrushes around her room each day. “I try to use brushes, but I toss them. I mix my paint with my brain,” said Ora-ath.

Across the room a theme had begun to develop for me as there were 11 red and purple-hued paintings of a similar female figure in active and passive positions against vacant walls and doors. Tanja Harmon described them as self-portraits of a series of things left behind: “I usually work on 5-10 paintings at once. You leave yourself behind, your relationships, everything.” On the left panel were 3 additional pieces of artwork where Harmon ripped the canvas and sewed it back together, thereby allowing the physical manifestation of emotional scars.

As the night progressed, the recurring theme of empowered women became exceedingly present. Juxtaposing the Wine Exchange were photo and paint superimpositions. David Lucas Bell explains to me that his art approaches cities and feminism: “ I like urban scenes, the grotesqueness and borderline chaos. It is hard to make a photograph chaotic.” The most impacting from Bell’s pieces was “Vanity Flare,” a piece with the Leaning Tower of Pisa as part of a female mannequin of perfection streaked with a flare.

Ending the feminist displays, I wandered over to the inspiring Jason Kubb whom starkly described to me the philosophy around his art: “I use a matte varnish. I like the dull appearance and I want it detached from any background influence.” In front of me was a large and dichotomous arrangement of Kubb’s identity with painted and airbrushed organic shapes. “It’s called ‘On the Inside’, and I worked on it for a 6-month period. I‘m ready to part with it,” said Kubb.

Days after the event, several of the artists contacted me to thank me for my mere interest and allowance of their heavy, verbal expositions on their art. I can only thank them for the experience by telling you that Tampa holds obscure art treasuries.

Eleven 17 on MySpace