I got to downtown's Weston Art Gallery in the Aronoff Center for the Arts on Saturday and was deeply impressed with one of its three shows, Supplemental Ornament: Sculpture and Prints by Althea Murphy-Price.
I know Matt Morris gave this a strong review in a recent CityBeat, but I wanted to add my voice, too. She is incredibly meticulous, yet also open to playfulness, inspiration and imagination in the way she uses synthetic hair to create sculptural objects — and lithographs — that both transcend her medium and yet are all about what we do with our hair. One piece is a stunner that I hope finds its way into a museum: "All That Remains: Rug Series" lays out synthetic hair clippings — fibers, really — on the gallery floor in a delicate pattern. It's like a painstakingly constructed devotional object, something Asian monks might have used to focus their minds. One looks at it and prays that nothing will happen — no breeze, no water leak — to make it move a hair.
Be sure to see this beautiful show, on display through Jan. 10.
