In the basement of virtually empty building hangs a simple black and white portrait of a girl's face masked by a stocking.
"Voyeurism is the pleasure in looking while not being seen," is scribbled in pencil at the bottom of the photograph, titled "Second Skin" by Aasta Deth.
The piece might hold special meaning to those visiting the CEPA Gallery's "2007 Members' Exhibition," where patrons can meander into a seemingly vacant space and stare at some of the most interesting and unusual pieces of art in existence.
CEPA is currently juggling three exhibits, one of which is "Picturing Poetry," located in the Passageway Gallery. It features photographs taken by middle school students accompanied by poems they've written.
"Portals of Science and Suffering," located in the FLUX Gallery, is a series of chromogenic prints by Tricia Zigmund.
Last but not least is the "2007 Members' Exhibition" in the basement's Undergound Gallery. This exhibit includes hundreds of photographic works by different artists, as well as some tantalizing video art.
Since 1974, the non-profit CEPA Gallery has been showing different kinds of photographic and electronic arts in attempts to educate people in the area about contemporary art trends.
"Picturing Poetry" is a very simple exhibit conceptually, but the insight found in reading selections of the poems is moving. These sixth grade students from the Harvey Austin Middle School were each given a camera and were instructed that their theme was "windows."
Tricia Zigmund's "Portals of Science and Suffering," was a simple exhibit consisting of seven chromomeric photographic prints that may or may not leave you with a giant question mark stamped on your forehead.
Most of the images are multi-layered, as if a few pictures were taken in short sequences and then placed on top of each other. The first piece in the line is called "In the Context of You," and it gives the sensation of watching a moving image. A woman is on her knees jumps on a skeleton of a mattress in a small room with dirt on the floor and beams of white light gushing through the window.
Down the elevator, through a seedy-looking barren blue hallway and past a solid metal door with a tiny window lies the "2007 Members' Exhibition."
Behind this door is a compartmental room with whitewashed walls covered in photographs. The only audible sound is trickling water, but don't hesitate to follow your curiosity, it's actually an intriguing work of art.
In the back of this "Underground Gallery" there are four black booths, each with different kinds of video art. The trickling sound comes from the first booth, a piece called "Pretty Princess" by Amy Meza Luraschi.
Staring into a television screen, one cna see the image of a girl in her underwear, focused around her waist showing from her belly button to her mid-thigh. She picks up a rag and profusely and repeatedly scrubs her stomach, then begins lapping the water onto her body with her hands until her underwear is soaked through.
If voyeurism is a keyhole into the world, then a tour of the exhibit certainly offers privacy in which to do it. CEPA is located at 617 Main Street, Suite 201. The exhibit continues through March 3.
