Gregory Sale

I's Not Just Black and White - Social Art Project
February - May 2011

Recently artist Gregory Sale came to BSU to discuss his latest project "It's Not Just Black and White". Gregory's art takes an approach I have never seen before. He explores what he refers to as "socially engaged art" in his projects and talked passionately about the idea of "relational esthetics", which I find very interesting.

He explores the idea of art being the catalyst for deeper discussion on a given topic, with the possibility of affecting positive change. As he talked about "It's Not Just Black and White", a piece challenging the effectiveness of the prison system in his home state of Arizona, it was clear the the project did have some significant positive impact. What I'm still wrestling with, is what part of the project was "Art".

I feel like art opened the doors to get things rolling. It allowed barriers to be broken down and gaps in our social structure to be bridged, but just because it was the catalyst, dose that mean everything coming out of the project automatically can be or should be labeled art? In some ways I wonder if labeling every aspect of the "It's Not Just Black and White" project "art", diminishes the significance of things that transpired.

Im in no way saying that I think the work that Gregory is doing is not important or valuable. Im just not sure were I think it fits into contemporary art. I had the chance to look at a hand full of his other socially engaged art and I really like the concept.

Love Buttons, Love Bites Series - 2008 -2011

Between 2008 - 2010 Gregory did a series of projects called "Love Buttons, Love Bites" in which he took thousands of buttons with fragments of poems and passed them out at different festivals. As per his website "The series is part psychological experiment, part collaboration with strangers, and part compulsion to elicit intimacy."  I love this idea, but I wish he would have gone into more detail on the outcome. I would have loved to hear about peoples reactions, and interactions to get a sense of the overall impact of the work.

I'm glad that I got a chance to learn more about Gregory's art. It will differently be something I continue to ponder.

Moving Forward With Awareness and Compassion - 1996

“I’m part of the experiment. Can a museum operate much as an open studio? Can it accommodate being really messy?” - Gregory Sale