Historical October 1992 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
An exhibit of works by local artist Bill Christman was mounted at the Elliot Smith Contemporary Art Gallery, 4727 McPherson, from August 21 to September 6.
An estimated 1000 persons attended the opening of the show, titled “Rodeo of the Soul” They purchased tee-shirts, raw “nougat” chunks, souvenirs and a number of the works exhibited.
The following appeared in the show’s program. (I am not making this up! Check your own dictionary.) “Corn dog mysticism, the artist’s own term for his unique vision, combines the ethos of the state fair midway with its antithesis: the search for a heightened spiritual awareness. Enlightenment on a stick! … “These artworks also celebrate America’s ‘golden age of advertising,’ the hale and hearty boom days of post World War II America…. But, as the cold war and racial segregation represent some of the evils lurking in the shadows, .. the corn dog has a dark side of its own. “Christman laments the spiritual lassitude of our age and, not one to condemn, playfully offers chewy nougat nirvana as a sugary palliative to our moral malaise…. “William Christman is a practiced master of both parody and artifice.
His installations and environments have been seen at the University City Library Gallery, Messing Gallery, the First Night celebration in Grand Center, the Gallery at COCA, and the West End Neighborhood Arts Council’s Art Exposed!”
Original photograph caption
Bill Christman’s Rodeo of the Soul exhibit at Elliot Smith Gallery. Photo by King Schoenfeld.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, October 1992.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1992_10.pdf, printed page(s) 1; PDF page(s) 1.
