‘Surface’ changes everything

Normally the walls of the Anderson Gallery serve only as a support for exhibitions of paintings and sculptures. With some installations, such as last spring’s “Penumbra,” the gallery might paint the walls a different color to enhance the work held within a certain room.

“Surface Charge,” which opened Friday night, has changed all of that. Walls are no longer merely support for a canvas on which the art is created; they are the canvas on which the creation resides.

Astonishing site-specific exhibitions created by 11 artists from all around the globe, most of whom have exhibited their work all over the world, have transformed the gallery itself into a work of art.

“It was extremely wonderful working with artists of this caliber here in Richmond,” said Gregory Volk, co-curator of “Surface.”

“Imagine, they are coming here and making temporary projects, nine of the artworks that are here won’t exist when this exhibition closes.”

The artists said they agree that part of the importance of “Surface” lies in its impermanence.

New York-based artist Elana Herzog, who contributed to the third floor of the gallery that put emphasis on domesticity, felt there was a certain poignancy to being able to respond to the room when putting together her piece.

By being able to actually create on the walls, we get to contribute to generations of activity in this gallery,” she said.

The contributing artists hail from countries all over the world, including Iceland, Argentina, Germany, Australia and the U.S.

Each brings their own unique vision to define their environments. Icelander Ragna Robertsdottir imported thousands of volcanic lava chips the size of pebbles, which Volk said she gathered herself, from currently active volcanoes in her native country.

The thousands of jagged lava chips were then set in plaster on the second-floor wall creating an immense salt and pepper rectangle.

Walking toward the piece almost gives the effect of falling, like the chips are hurdling past as you plummet. Laying your head against the wall on which the piece resides turns the work into a solid black monolith knocked on its side.

Bringing together such diverse artists to create original, temporary works seems like an immense undertaking, but Volk said getting everyone to come together from all around the world was an enormous pleasure.

The gallery received help from many of Volk’s students, whom he said not only assisted in the installation but also got a rare opportunity to work in close proximity with renowned artists.

“What I hoped to happen did happen, which is that many of my students and others from the university came here to help us. So, it became a real creative environment and lots of the young artists at VCU got hands-on experience working with highly acclaimed international artists,” he said.

Pieces in “Surface Charge” include sculptures, carvings, paintings, films and collages spread throughout all three floors of the gallery.

The exhibition will be on display through December 4.

For more information call (804) 828-1522 or visit www.vcu.edu/artweb/gallery.