Opening of The Human Anomaly by John Schuerman

I did the quickest gallery tour ever through John Schuerman’s The Human Anomaly because I really wanted to see it and I was squeezed between work and kids. I had spent the day discussing community need and use of technology on the Iron Range and had kids waiting at home. It was a really odd juxtaposition to the art, which highlights the human role in nature and human’s ability to control one’s environment.

The art is exquisite colored pencil drawings. Each piece includes a singular or maybe just a few objects with precision and white space of a medical text book. The work is realistic and clearly natural yet removed from nature because the object is set outside its usual surroundings.

Tree Ring is the work that struck me the most. It is a bracelet of tree bark; the rings have been removed from the center. It looks as if you could feel the texture of the bark and there’s an orange ring painted on the outside. It’s easily recognizable but displaced. There’s an eerie quality too as the orange ring denotes an untimely death of the tree. Or at least an untimely demise or destruction. There’s a sadness in the work presented in the context of the show that I would have missed if seen on its own. It’s nature made human.

In contrast, hair circle is a piece that seems to make human become nature or art. It’s a picture of a swirling circle of hair. If I hadn’t read the name I might assume it was a delicate crocheted doily or dense, penciled Spirograph. I don’t know if I’m draw to it because of the art or the nature of it or because it reminds me of my three daughters.

The Human Anomaly will be at the Gordon Parks Gallery January 29- February 22, 2018.