What if most of your friends were artists so you decided to have a big public art show to exhibit their work? What if you let the artists pick out which works they wanted people to see -- instead of what some fancy curator wanted to show? What if you had no formal art training, no staffand little money, but you decided, what the heck, let's put on an art exhibit anyway?
The results of such imaginings will be on display Dec. 4 and 5 at The G-spot, a new alternative art space operated by a free-lance hair stylist/musician and a building manager/sculptor.
Called "Paradigm Convergence," the exhibit will feature paintings, glass work, photography, videos, sculpture, furniture and music by about a dozen regional artists, including Spoon Popkin, Daniel Van Allen, Colleen Carter, Sam Holden and Chris Rhoten.
"We didn't want a millennium show, but we wanted to mark the time. So I thought this was a good way to do it, rather than have a party, to show the art of a lot of my friends," explains Jill Sell, hair stylist and co-founder of The G-spot.
The show's title comes from the notion that "art is a part of everyone's lives. But everyone lives in their own paradigm and their own reality and -- because this is a group show -- this is everyone converging," she says.
Like many alternative venues, The G-spot is difficult to describe. Run by Sell and her fiance, Reuben Kroiz, it is a mostly empty warehouse at 2980 Falls Road that, in a few short months, has become the kind of place that seems to foster creative energy and to draw artists and art lovers of the distinctly cool sort.
The space, which is a former cotton mill, is named for Kroiz's late father, Gerson, who before his death last summer donated start-up money. The goal was to create a place in which musicians, writers or visual artists could both congregate and share their work. "We like going to lots of events, and we felt like Baltimore could use another space for art," says Kroiz, who is building manager and special events coordinator at Baltimore School for the Arts.
"We had been talking about it for years -- how it would be great to have another venue in Baltimore, and then Jill found the space, and we were ready to move."
Earlier this month, the space (along with the Charles Theatre) was the site of MicroCineFest '99, a film festival featuring about 100 underground shorts and features. Over the course of five days it attracted nearly 2,000 viewers. Plans for future events at The G-spot include readings and quarterly art exhibits; the couple hopes donations will cover their costs.
