Beyond Reason
Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts introduces Amy Arbus: Beyond Reason, extraordinary stop action images of burlesque dancers and circus performers. Opening and artist reception Saturday, August 24, 5-7 pm. Next day, commencing at 3:00 pm at the Brattleboro School of Dance, Mitchell-Giddings and New England Center for Circus Arts will host a short circus performance, followed by an artist talk at 4:00.
After the pandemic, Arbus was able to venture with her curiosity and camera into town fairs and traveling circuses where she became enthralled with the contortionists, trapeze artists and acrobats. Says Arbus, “Watching the performers’ extraordinary feats, the audience… stares in disbelief. Meanwhile, I am photographing at ten frames per second to capture the action. I look for moments that happen so fast that we are not conscious of seeing them.” Mike Carroll, owner of Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, perfectly sums up the surprise – the incredulity – the audience feels: “With her camera, Amy Arbus has discovered bodies in the exquisite arch of pain, desire and beauty. These performers have made an almost gruesome request of their own bodies to do something beyond reason.”
