GALLERY SNAPSHOT | Whitespace, etc.

November 30, 2020
ArtsATL
By Shelley Danzy

“I feel like I’m in my second childhood,” says Susan Bridges, director and owner of Whitespace Gallery in Atlanta’s Inman Park neighborhood. “It’s been a time of creative activism.” Bridges opened Whitespace in September 2006 with photographer David Yoakley Mitchell’s Old South. Passion is what connects the gallery’s eclectic history with its contemporary present. The property was six apartments in the 1970s and has been transformed — with time, hard work and craziness — into Whitespace (formerly a garage), Whitespec (formerly a basement) and Shedspace (formerly a plant shed).

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REVIEWS: Parallel at Whitespace, Atlanta

August 11, 2020
Burnaway
By Logan Lockner

In Atlanta and across the country, art viewers should probably resign themselves to the likelihood that much of what awaits them when galleries reopen will be grim reminders of what caused this spring’s exhibitions to shutter in the first place. This is certainly the case in Parallel, a group exhibition curated by Teresa Bramlette Reeves at Whitespace, on view through September 5. Fraying hazmat suits, echoing chants of I can’t breathe, images refracted through repetition and distortion—element such as these clearly appear as references to the dramatic, unsettling sights and sounds of pandemic and protest that have marked this year.

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Review: Alternate realities of Covid-19, protests prompt “Parallel” at Whitespace

July 27, 2020
ArtsATL
By Jerry Cullum

German philosopher Martin Heidegger used strikethroughs in a word to indicate that it was “inadequate but necessary” — that the word was misleading, but there was no better way to approach the problem. That’s the same reason a show originally titled Parallels has evolved into a similar yet different exhibition called Parallel  at Whitespace/Whitespec/Shedspace through September 5. It evolved in multiple times and ways after being inspired by an episode of NPR’s This American Life about a phone app based on the quantum theory that every either/or choice generates an alternate universe in which the opposite option happens.

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Review: Zipporah Camille Thompson weighs thoughts on nature, eternity at Zuckerman

February 18, 2020
ArtsATL
By Rebecca Brantley

Zipporah Camille Thompson’s Looming Chaos associates the act of weaving with the notion of eternal return. The flux of nature inspires Thompson, who discusses interconnections between land, bodies and other natural phenomena in a short video accompanying her exhibition.

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Review: In “Paper Routes”, 5 Georgians more than prove they’re artists to watch

February 17, 2020
ArtsATL
By Shelley Danzy

“How did she do that?” That’s a question you’ll likely ask yourself throughout Paper Routes – GA Women to Watch 2020. The exhibition at MOCA GA (through March 7) features 29 works of art by Georgia-based artists Jerushia Graham (Atlanta), Sanaz Haghani and Imi Hwangbo (Athens), Lucha Rodríguez (Decatur) and Whitney Stansell (College Park). It comes from the Georgia Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

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Review: Extraordinary subtlety on view in “paper kites / uncertain sky” at Whitespace

February 14, 2020
ArtsATL
By Jerry Cullum

The title of Seana Reilly and Morgan Alexander’s paper kites / uncertain sky (at Whitespace through March 14) suggests fragile objects carried aloft in changeable environments. That is, in fact, the emotional tone communicated by these extraordinarily subtle works on paper.

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Georgia Artist Benjamin Jones Embraces The Weirdness Of Life With Art

January 16, 2019
WABE
By Ryan McFadin

Georgia artist Benjamin Jones lives on Tybee Island, near Savannah, and is best known for his quirky drawings that combine his love of animals and nature with the harsh realities of life.

Jones’ art is currently on display at two different locations in Atlanta, one a 40-year retrospective titled “Speaking” at MOCA GA and the other an exhibition of new work titled “Salt Island” on view at the Whitespace Gallery.

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Georgia artist rages against the machine

January 9, 2019
AJC
By Felicia Feaster

When I first encountered artist Benjamin Jones’ work decades ago, I had some misgivings. His oddball drawings featuring bald, stumpy-armed, terrified-looking humanoid creatures seemed derivative of folk art and pulling inspiration from Bill Traylor, Jean-Michel Basquiat and a litany of Southern folk artists with deeply personal, private mythologies and manias.

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Review: Benjamin Jones makes exhilarating return with shows at MOCA GA, Whitespace

January 6, 2019
ArtsATL
By Deanna Sirlin

It’s the teeth that get you. In Benjamin Jones’ drawings on paper, almost every figure shows its teeth, with every tooth articulated. These small pieces are made with graceful lines but disturbing ferocity. The smiles are false; the grin is also a terrifying snarl. The figures are cute and endearing, soft like a teddy bear or rabbit or cat. Many have small, round animal ears atop their heads, but their cuteness is a façade. They’re ready to sink their sharp incisors into you if you come too close.

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Q&A: Artist Benjamin Jones on the world’s madness and the art of breathing again

December 16, 2019
ArtsATL
By Shelley Danzy

When Flannery O’Connor wrote, “Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days,” she could have been talking about Georgia-born artist Benjamin Jones.

Jones, 65, now lives on Tybee Island but is back in his hometown (shout-out to Cascade Heights) for two exhibitions — a 40-year retrospective titled Speaking at MOCA GA (through February 15) and a solo show of new work titled Salt Island at Whitespace (through January 25). Speaking features large- and small-scale drawings, collages, embellished journals and sculptures. Salt Island offers drawings that cover a range of emotions.

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