One last look at Summer Groove, the latest group exhibition at Lisa Sette Gallery in Midtown.
Lisa Sette Gallery is perhaps the gallery in the Valley. She’s held it down for more than 40 years—through the collapse of the housing market in 2008, the COVID pandemic in 2020, and an unpredictable political landscape and Phoenix art scene that continues to evolve around her.
Through all of it, the gallery has remained.
That is no small feat.
Several incredible artists—Arizona-based ones included—were represented in this summer exhibition, which carried a feeling of lightness, playfulness, and childlike wonder.
Xawery Wolski’s (@xawerywolski) woven wire piece titled Globos floated delicately in space like a forest of jellyfish, glistening in the twilight.
His Platinum Circle was another stunner, made with terracotta beads coated in a platinum glaze. You’d never guess they’re made of clay by the look of it.
I always love spotting Julianne Swartz’s Ceramic Clouds (@julianneswartz) in the wild. These porcelain-glazed segments are like a desert mirage. Viewed head-on, they become nearly invisible. Move to the side and suddenly vibrant rainbows illuminate from the shadows, asking us to consider what we might overlook and what kind of magic might exist in the “unseen.”
William Wegman’s Weimaraner photographs caught us by surprise. In Quadrapod, Surveyor, and Cocktail Waitress, his typically poised compositions are disrupted by sketches layered onto the prints, turning the dogs’ already awkward poses into hilarious caricatures.
Summer Groove had a real warmth to it. The work didn’t feel overly conceptualized. It was accessible, humorous, strange, beautiful, and surprisingly recognizable.
Moral of the story: I know from personal experience that walking into a gallery can feel intimidating to the unrepresented, unfamiliar artist and patron. But you don’t need to be afraid. You don’t need to have money, and you certainly don’t need an invitation.
The art is the invitation. It’s meant to be looked at, to be experienced.
Many gallery-represented artists are worth knowing. Sometimes you just have to walk through the door to discover them.