New Arts Center and Hip Neighborhoods Bolster Cincy Scene

Art Business News, July, 2001 by Keith Pandolfi

Built on the crests and valleys of seven hills, Cincinnati lingers along the Ohio River in a carefree manner that defies its own reputation. With a new, $27.5-million home for its Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) scheduled to open in 2003, the city seems poised to become a considerable force in the visual arts world. The new six-level building, dubbed the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Arts, was designed by Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid, making it the first American art museum to be designed by a woman--not bad for a city with a tendency to remain defiantly behind the times.

In its current location, on the second floor of a downtown office building, the CAC showcases the best in local and international art. It recently hosted a dazzling exhibition tiffed "The Seed Sounds of the Vegetative Nervous System at the Hydroponic Nectar-Lake," in which Swiss artists Gerda Steiner and Jorg Lenzliner transformed a gallery into a lush garden filled with crystal flowers, artificial arrangements and live vegetation.

Just north of downtown is the city's Over the Rhine neighborhood, which, during the past decade, has become home to myriad upscale restaurants, clubs, bars and small galleries. The neighborhood's Main Street entertainment district has, in turn, become a quintessential artist's neighborhood with historic Greek Revival buildings packed with affordable gallery and living space.

Almost all of the neighborhood's galleries are located on Main Street, including the Design Smith Gallery, which offers contemporary and cocktail culture furniture and an occasional two- or three-dimensional art exhibit.

"It's a friendly place. It's small, but it's a nice place," said artist Danny Murphy about the neighborhood's burgeoning gallery scene. Describing his art as "slapstick surrealism," Murphy has been a member of Over the Rhine's Base Gallery since 1999.

Founded in 1992, Base is the oldest, largest and, perhaps, most relaxed artist-run gallery in the city. Its weathered Main Street storefront location houses three gallery spaces that typically feature both a local or regional artist and a group show, many of which fall into the realm of outsider art.

Next door, the cozy and cordial Susana Terrill Gallery usually features exhibitions of paintings, photography and sculpture by regional and area artists. While some of the artists Terrill exhibits are recent transplants to the city, she said most are graduates from the Cincinnati Art Academy or the University of Cincinnati. Art students, she explained, tend to stay in Cincinnati because of the city's low cost of living.

Terrill believes the Over the Rhine galleries are the only ones in Cincinnati that take real chances with the artists they show. "I think most Cincinnati area (galleries) tend to be very conservative," explained Terrill, who said her largest sales are by out-of-town collectors. "Some galleries are very careful about who they show and what they're showing. It's mainly because they have to pay the bills. In Over the Rhine, you have people who will try a little bit harder--who will do something different."

Just up the hill from Main Street sits the Pendleton Arts Center. With more than 107 artists renting gallery space, this colossal former department store warehouse claims to be "home of the world's largest collection of artists under one roof." George Behlow, a photographer who has occupied a space in the Pendleton for more than four years, said the center is growing in popularity and beginning to attract serious collectors. "It's a real community here," he said. "And it's a real energy builder since people feed off each other's ideas and suggestions."

At the end of each month, the Pendleton hosts its popular Final Friday series, an elegant affair during which hundreds of local collectors and scenesters arrive dressed to the nines eager to spend an evening with the city's in-crowd. Final Fridays usually spill into the Main Street galleries, which often host openings during the event.

Several upscale galleries are located in Cincinnati's thriving business center on Fourth Street. The Zahorec Hughes Gallery is currently featuring a juried exhibition of photography by local and national artists titled "In God We Trust." The gallery is also home to Jim Dine's "The Crash Series." "It's a little bit of New Orleans and a little bit of SoHo," said owner Jane Hughes. "It's high-tech, but it's comfortable, and I think it's very welcoming." The cluttered Michael Lowe Gallery is packed with antique furniture and artwork, and the Linda Schwartz Gallery houses popular exhibitions such as "Joel Otterson: Eurotrash Tapestry."

Downtown's 3,500 square-foot Weston Art Gallery offers eight to 10 rotating exhibitions annually of works by local, regional and international artists. Located in the opulent Aronoff Center for the Arts, its openings draw some of the city's most art-savvy crowds.

While Over the Rhine continues to attract young artists, Cincinnati's hippest neighborhood by far is Northside with its cheap rents for cavernous houses and surplus of bars, tattoo parlors, restaurants and boutiques. While the living may be easy, two of the neighborhood's art galleries recently closed shop. It remains to be seen if it can become a viable arts district in the future.