This is an opportunity for people to feel the art, said Liedeke Bulder, Tuesday at the Kauai Society of Artists gallery.
“Normally, when you visit a gallery, there are all of these ‘do not touch’ inhibitions,” said Bulder, who was gallery sitting. “For this show, people are asked to touch, to play and experience the ‘Invisible Voices.’”
Described as a laboratory of creativity, it was designed as a playground for artists to loosen up and explore unfamiliar angles and ways. Unbound by the ambition to please the crowd or to make a profit, the invitation was taken up by nine, daring KSA members.
“We don’t have that many people, so on some days, the gallery is closed because we have no one to gallery sit,” Bulder said.
“But people are encouraged to see (and experience) the show before it closes Saturday.”
Keeping in mind the theme ‘Invisible Voices,’ the participating artists were invited to artistically narrate the connection with the “beyond,” the humans’ extrasensory relation with other dimensions — the unseen and the unheard.
The result is unlike the traditional shows hosted by KSA. Lighting plays a role in the experience, as does the human brain perceiving communication despite the lack of the artist’s presence.
“Haa Liekie,” the voice screams from the pastel of Bulder’s down’s syndrome brother, who died at age 55.
“The image depicts his face the way it would light up when he would see me entering the room when I went for my visit home to Holland,” Bulder said. “His face lights up and the words come flowing out — Haa Liekie! I hear his voice every time I look at this painting.”
A live microphone is planted beneath a pair of sculptures supported by rods, which are lit in a manner to create its own display with shadows.
Bulder ran her hand through the rods, and audio burst forth “like the sound of the Creation.”
Another piece by Eve Solomon is a departure from her ceramic jewelry as a group of people hang from a ceramic hand against a dark background, an experience in dimension on its own.
Sweep the wooden dowel and listeners are invited to scribe their experience in a title on a nearby sheet of paper.
The KSA gallery is open from 11 a.m., pending availability of gallery sitters.
