Lamps reflect light on new art form
By Josh Krauter
Staff writer
A lamp isn’t just a lamp.
Especially when it’s a tiki torch, a
stoneware night light, a plumber’s
plunger or boasts a name like “Heaven
& Hell” or “Martha Has a Psychotic
Break.”
Lamps that are more than just
ordinary table decorations are the sub
ject of Gallery 9’s show
“Illuminations,” which opens today.
Judith Andre, a Gallery 9 artist and
the impetus for the exhibition, said the
idea came to her for several reasons.
“I’d been wanting to do something
lit for a while, and this pushed me to do
it,” Andre said.
Her work with glass formed in a
kiln gave her the idea to use light in her
art. She decided on lamps as the medi
um when shopping for a new lamp.
“I noticed how boring most com
mercial lamps were,” she said.
Andre said she was also intrigued
by art that was useful around the
house.
“You only have room on your walls
for so much art,” she said.
The exhibition features more than
15 artists. All are Nebraska natives,
with the exception of Sally Dreyer, an
artist from Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Andre said the pieces are either
created by Gallery 9 members or
artists invited by members. About half
regularly work in the medium of light,
but the other half are working with
lamps for the first time, Andre said.
Those new to the medium were
invited because they expressed an
interest or had worked with three
dimensional pieces before, Andre said.
The scope of the exhibit is large,
she said.
“There’s everything from the sci
entific approach to conceptual pieces
- like a water jug - to sculptures,” she
said.
Andre is not exaggerating. Some
of the artists are stretching the defini
tion of just what a lamp is.
Josh Berger’s minimalist lamps
include a light bulb floating in a gold
Long Beach All-Stars rediscover roots
with expanded Sublime tune lineup
from an accidental drug overdose. In
the year following his death, Nowell’s
former band, Sublime, experienced
uncanny success, selling millions of
albums, becoming a radio staple and
an MTV favorite.
Unfortunately for all of Sublime’s
fans, Nowell was the front man of the
group, and when he died, so did
Sublime. -
But on Saturday night, Lincoln
Sublime fans will have a chance to see
the next best thing.
The Long Beach Dub All-Stars, a
group made of former members of
Sublime, will be packed onto the
Knickerbockers’ stage, 9th and O
streets, for one eclectic reggae, punk,
hip-hop, jazz-style jamboree.
The group is making a stop in
Lincoln to support their debut album,
the Sept. 28 release “Right Back.”
The album is predominately
fueled by the sounds of Eric Wilson’s
bass and Bud Gaugh’s drums, both of
Sublime, a band known for its solid
jam-style rhythm section. While
Sublime’s sound was a mixture of ska
reggae and folked-out punk, the Long
Beach Dub All-Stars draw their sound
more from dub reggae, pioneered by
groups like Half Pint and King Tubby.
The group itself is made of seven
Long Beach, Calif., natives who’ve
been friends since before Sublime’s
success.
Together, they combine the basics
of drum, bass and guitar with turnta
bles, extra percussion, keyboards,
flutes and saxophone to create a big
ger, more involved sound than
Sublime was known for. It’s a sound
that is decidedly different than
Sublime, but ultimately the roots and
spirituality of the two groups are quite
similar. Occasionally the Long Beach
Dub All-Stars have even been known
to play a Sublime song or two at then
live shows.
Tomorrow’s performance starts at
10 p.m. and costs $15.
^ There’s everything from the scientific
approach to conceptual pieces - like a
water jug - to sculptures.”
Judith Andre
Gallery 9 artist
fish bowl full of distilled water; Doug
Smith’s galvanized steel pieces are
cold and industrial; Leigh Cohen’s
“Tiffany’Is Tacky Tiki Torch” is ceram
ic, Styrofoam and a mirror and Barry
Monahan’s “Freestyle” is made from
Legos.
Andre herself is contributing a few
lamps, some of which she is still work
ing on.
One is a glass shade that will hang
from the ceiling, which looks remark
ably like cloth. The other is just what
the title says, “Big Pineapple,” a large
glass pineapple lamp.
“I’ve put most of a month into it,”
she said.
Andre said she has been working
frantically on it late at night, but it has
been taking longer than expected. She
has been coordinating the exhibition
all month and, as a member of the
hanging committee, has been setting
up all the pieces and making sure they
work.
Dreyer, who contributes a flood
lamp made from stoneware, said hang
ing the art is an artistic endeavor in
itself.
“Hanging a gallery is an art activi
ty,” she said. “You’re making a compo
sition.”
Andre and Dreyer said getting all
the lamps set up without breaking any
thing has been tough, but it’s some
thing they’re used to.
3* “Illuminations”
WHERE: Gallery 9
124 S. Ninth St.
WHEN: Feb. 4 - Feb. 26
COST: free
THE SKINNY: Gallery
sheds light on lamps as
art.
“We tell ourselves it’s fun,” Andre
said.
“Meeting a challenge can be a fun
thing,” Dreyer responds. “That’s what
art’s all about.”
When asked how many extra light
bulbs they keep in case some bum out,
Andre just laughs.
“I have no idea,” she said. “Some
people brought extras. There’s a hard
ware store a block and a half away.”
The exhibition opens tonight, with
a reception starting at 7 and ending at
10, which Andre said would be infor
mal and relaxed.
“There’s no pressure to buy or do
anything but have a good time.”
. Court estv Photo
The Long Beach Dub All-Stars, a reincarnation of the defunct Sublime, takes the stage tonight at Knickerbockers,
9th and 0 streets.
CBS revamps ‘Real World’ with intensity, realism
NEW YORK (AP) - CBS hopes to
make voyeurs out of TV viewers this
summer with a new show in which a
group of volunteers will live for three
months in a home equipped with two
dozen cameras and 59 microphones -
even in the bathroom.
The network won a bidding war to
adapt a Dutch series, “Big Broither,” for
American television and announced
Thursday it will air the show five days a
week this summer.
The nine or 10 people living in the
house will be whittled down, week by
week, by viewers who vote on who has
to leave. At the series’ end, viewers
decide which character they like best,
and the winner gets a cash prize.
It’s something like MTV’s long-run
ning “Real World” series, only much
more intense: Participants cannot go
anywhere within the house without
being seen or heard, and will be permit
ted no contact with die outside world.
Although they will be on television
constantly, they won’t be allowed to
watch TV J
When the series is not on the air,
fans will be able to follow the house
mates any time, day or night, through a
Web site.
“Big Brother” was a sensation when
it aired in the Netherlands last fall, par
ticularly among young people.
“This type of show appeals to a cer
tain sense of voyeurism in all of us, like
listening in on a nearby conversation or
walking past a house and glancing in the
window,” said Paul Romer, executive
producer of the Dutch show.
CBS will conduct a nationwide
search for participants and put them
through physical and psychological
screening.
want but will be immediately replaced
anddorfeit their chance for a prize.
The network paid a reported $20
million to the Dutch production compa
ny Endemol Entertainment for rights to
the series, outbidding Fox, ABC and the
USA cable network.
By airing “Big Brother” so often,
CBS hopes to duplicate ABC’s success
at adapting the game show, “Who Wants
to Be a Millionaire.” ABC put
“Millionaire” on over several nights last
August and had the hit of the TV season.
Also this summer, CBS is airing a
in which 16 contestants are thrown
together on a deserted island off
Borneo. The winner of the endurance
test gets $1 million.
Both are bold moves for CBS,
which usually doesn’t risk shocking an
audience whose average age is over 50.
The summer rerun season is the perfect
time to be a little daring, said CBS
President Leslie Moonves.
“Viewers are looking for new forms
of programming, and this is an attempt
to be ahead of the curve in finding the
next form,” spokesman Chris Ender
volunteers cun leave whenever they similar reality-based show, “Survivor," said.
Thefollowing is a brief list of events
this weekend. For more information,
call the venue.
CONCERTS:
Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 OSt.
(402) 474-3543
Sunday: Beyond Chaos, Noise
Wave
Duggan s Pub, 440 S. 11th St.
(402) 477-3513
Friday: FAC with the Wheese
Tones, Velvet Elvis
Saturday: Sticky Fingers
Good Shepherd, 8300 East
Pointe Road |
(402) 477-7899
Saturday: Nebraska Brass,
Friends
i
Kimball Recital Hall, 11th and
R streets
(402) 472-4747
Friday: guest artist Nancy King
Sunday: John Bailey and Mark
Clinton
Knickerbockers, 901 O St.
(402) 476-6865
Friday: Black Dahlias, Grind
Horse, Joe Buck
Saturday: Long Beach Dub All
stars
Lied Center for Performing
Arts, 12th and R streets
(472-4747)
Saturday: “NEBRASKAland:
The Road Home”
Royal Grove, 340 W.
Cornhusker Highway
(402) 474-2332
Friday: Size 13
Saturday: Ezra
7th Street Loft, 512 S. Sex’enth
St.
(402) 435-5592
Friday: Neal and Leandra
The Zoo Bar, 136 N. 14th St.
(402) 435-8754
All weekend: LiF Ed and the
Imperial Flames
THEATER:
Lincoln Community Playhouse,
2500 S. 56th St.
(402) 489-7529
All weekend: “Flyin’ West”
Mary Riepma Ross Film
Theater,
12th and R streets
(402) 472-2461
All weekend: “American
Movie”
GALLERIES:
Burkholder Project, 719 P St.
(402) 477-3305
All weekend: Nebraska
Landscapes Invitational,
Richard Terrell
Gallery 9, 124 S. Ninth St.
(402) 477-2822
All weekend: “Illuminations,”
all-niiember show
Haydon Gallery, 335 N. Eighth
St.
(402) 475-5421
" ~ i
All weekend: Beadwork in
America 2000
Noyes Gallery, 119 S. Ninth St.
(402) 475-1061
All weekend: Olive Bishop and
Bonnie Goochey; works created
by members of the Nebraska
Bead Society
Rotunda Gallery, Nebraska
Union, 14th and R streets
(402) 472-2631
All weekend: Art League
Exhibition
The Sheldon Memorial Art
Gallery, 12th and R streets
(402) 472-2461
All weekend: UNL MFA
Faculty, Biennial, MFA
Portfolio: “Past and Present”
