A Street exhibit welcomes art other venues vetoed

In 1863, the annual Paris Salon exhibition - sponsored by the French government and the Academy of Fine Arts - refused two thirds of the paintings submitted, including works by Edouard Monet and Camille Pissarro.

The resulting public furor prompted Emperor Napoleon III to order the rejected artwork to be publicly displayed, but in separate part of the site where the salon was held.

Since then, “Salon des Refusés” has become the traditional and generic term for any exhibition of works rejected by a juried art show.

Hence, the new exhibit this weekend in Santa Rosa’s arts district south of A Street (SOFA) is titled “Salon des Refusés,” and includes some 50 pieces of art that other venues vetoed.

“It’s about the whole issue of what is acceptable at any given time,” said Suzanne Edminster, organizer of the show. “Things that are now considered masterpieces were rejected at one time.”

Graton artist Tony Speirs, who often references pop culture in his work, had no trouble picking his entry for the exhibit, a mock comic book cover portraying the president of the United States as “Top-Man.”

“My Trump comic book cover got axed from two shows, so I suppose this qualifies,” Speirs said.

It’s not readily apparent why Dan Scannell’s painting of a dejected-looking person hanging out in a porch with two rather somber dogs, titled “The Blue Swing,” ever merited refusal but it eventually won acceptance.?“It was rejected from two different shows … but it also won Best of Show at the Windsor Fine Arts Exhibit,” Scannell wrote in his notes for the show.

For her own entry in the exhibit, Edminster selected a painting titled “Beauty,” a portrait of a misshapen visage which won’t win any TV pageants but makes an important point.

“‘Beauty’ was my response to demands made of women to be beautiful. Art is supposed to be beautiful as well,” she explained. “The little Beast (in the painting) is on a pedestal. Is she beautiful or ugly? I think she belongs in this show because she is outside the bounds of conventional art.”

The show will run two weekends at Mario Uribe’s Seishin Studio in the SOFA Arts District in conjunction with the neighborhood’s annual Art Walk open house for its galleries and studios, also organized by Edminster.

“We have as much innovative talent here as in larger urban centers,” she said. “It just a matter of showing it.”

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts