Art show ‘Woman’ shows the strength of women through men’s eyes
Melissa Hansen, CONTRIBUTOR
Shouresh Jalili observing Cheney Lansard’s painting of Zeus’s mother. THE PROJECTOR/ Melissa Hansen
Every piece of art has a story. The lines from each piece bring together a story, but don’t always tell one on their own.
Shouresh Jalili and Cheney Lansard exposed their artistic voices through a show that empowered women. Woman exposes the strength of women through the eyes of men.
“Woman is something we could both relate on,” said Lansard. “We could both connect on something without having to collaborate”.
Several people took in the carefully thought out art of Jalili and Lansard on Friday, Oct. 7, at the Albert Hub. As people wandered through the gallery, a painting that struck a chord with many was the one depicting the parents of Zeus.
Lansard composed the story of how Zeus came to be through the tips of his brushes, without ever mentioning Zeus himself. He told the story of Zeus’s origins through the story of his mother, a woman people rarely discuss when speaking of the famous tale of Zeus.
Ian Crellin admiring one of Shouresh Jalili’s pieces. THE PROJECTOR/ Melissa Hansen
The two men challenged the order, the story and the depth of each of the pieces, as they placed every piece of the show in the spot where it would provide its audience with its strongest story.
Jalili measured and maneuvered every piece of his art. As the crowd filtered in, different women were relating to different stories and pieces.
“You see the room crawling with women you think you know,” said Melissa Burt, as she roamed around the room and looked at pieces with appreciation and understanding.
“You find the people you want to know in every piece, rather than who it really is,” she added.
Woman was a token to the women in the artists’ lives, and to those in the stories Jalili and Lansard told through their art.
