In the artistic sense, the Salon style has nothing to do with blow dryers or motor-mouthed, gossiping dames with beehives burning beneath spaceship-lookin' heat lamps. Instead, Salon style refers to something much more Académie des Beaux-Arts in nature. You see, back in the day in France-around the mid-1700s through the late 1800s-artists' works were stacked and plastered to the walls en masse, either marveled at by onlookers or verbally ripped to pieces by snide critics (those poor Impressionists!). And if it sounds a bit chaotic, that's because it was-it was unorganized and chaotic, but there it was: the Salon in all its boisterous, artsy-fartsy glory. Thankfully, modern times have bestowed upon us higher expectations and showcasing practices for artists. The quaint and cozy Huntington Beach Art Center presents “Centered on the Center” and will feature the works of nearly 200 artists and 400 of their pieces: local, regional, national and in many different forms of media-minus the brutality of a jury panel. Manet would have been so proud.
Jan. 18-Feb. 17, 2008
