Venues

Handsome 
September 20–November 3

Exhibition Reception
Thursday September 20, 6 pm–9 pm 

Handsome, Christopher Hoeting’s new series, focuses on classical American director John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (Ford’s first movie after World War II) and his iconic character Wyatt Earp. 

In Handsome, Hoeting deconstructs Ford’s cinematic perspective—signified by idealized archetypes, strict moral codes, and the absence of realistic violence—and uses the image of Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine as a point of departure to investigate surface identities and the banality and ritual of posturing as a futile exhibit of virility and manhood.   

Hoeting strives to underscore the semiotics of masculinity imbedded within My Darling Clementine by altering and editing historic images. Commenting on blind acceptance of prescribed notions of identity, he employs several sequences and still frames taken from the film as a way to exemplify how Ford’s cinematic progressions (walking, dress, and self-admiration) create a conversation about the relevance of surface identities, gender roles, and the social pressures of the facade.

Hoeting parallels elements of the film to aspects of demonstrative urban reclamation—the maintaining of surface architecture without reverence to integral infrastructure.  His work reflects his view that often what is left in this scenario is a prolific urban skin without true historical context.  Perhaps the American Western archetype is no longer relevant in 2012; however, Hoeting explores his belief that we always carry the hint of a desire to maintain the bravado of an exterior—like the integral character in My Darling Clementine—while collectively representing and unknowingly submitting to the destruction of what is often most integral and essential.

Central to Hoeting’s reflection is media (Hoeting’s media includes layered silk screen prints, video projection, slide projection installation, light boxes, and kinetic pieces) and how media is designed to interplay with the posturing and stereotype of the American hero as represented by the facade of Hollywood Western films relative to our collective cultural ideals of gender, identity, and politics. 

The work stems from two creative processes: stills layered with hand-drawings and resin which create sculptural planes and a large kinetic slide projection of timed images creates the reanimation of a sequence—frame by frame—into a multilayered print.  

Hoeting (b.1979) has shown throughout Cincinnati at the Harvest Gallery, Symbiotic Gallery, and the Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery, as well as in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Scotland, and Washington, D.C.  He holds an MFA in painting from the University of Maryland and has taught at the University of Maryland, Xavier University, and the University of Dayton. Hoeing is also a co-founder of parProjects and an exhibition specialist at Cincinnati’s Taft Museum of Art.

The Emery, one of three acoustically pure theatres in the country, is currently under revitalization under the artistic direction of The Requiem Project: The Emery.  Located in Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood and built in 1911, The Emery was designed along isacoustic curve principles and was one of the first concert halls in the United States completely free of obstructed seating. With acoustics comparable to those of Carnegie Hall in New York City, the theater was the one-time home of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and has hosted such stars as Leopold Stokowski (the first conductor on The Emery’s stage), Igor Stravinsky, John Philip Sousa, George Gershwin, Vaclav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, Mary Wigman, and Bette Davis.  As part of a initiative started by The Requiem Project in 2008, The Emery Theatre will be restored and renovated into a rare arts and cultural venue that will provide entertainment and educational opportunities for men and women of all ages and backgrounds in a variety of artistic disciplines, including film, theatre, music and dance.

The Requiem Project is a 501(c)-3 not-for-profit arts company with the mission to re-establish an acoustically-pure historic treasure, The Emery, and transform the theatre into a vibrant and unique venue that will define itself as a space that encourages creative growth, fosters a multitude of opportunities for artistic collaborations, and offers arts-based educational opportunities through dance, music, theatre, film, visual, and interdisciplinary artistic expressions for local and national performing artists.