Art in the Time of Covid

The Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Preview Night has returned after a one-year hiatus due to Covid quarantine restrictions. I masked up and braved the sultry air and sweaty crowd to get one last dose of culture for the summer.

Painting was extremely strong this year, Summer Goddess by Margo Selski and the surrealistic Untitled by Brandon Anderson were standouts:

It wouldn’t be a proper State Fair with farm animals, Dairy Queen by Patty Voje was another stunning painting:

If the painting was good, the sculpture was superb. Fred Cogelow is a past winner, his Strada Cornelia, Bucarest 2016 was amazing (cross eyes for 3-D effect):

This year also featured some fine examples of textile art, most notable was Kristin Williams’ felted moose:

My old fair-pals Genie Castro and Nicole Houff were there (as well as Nicole’s husband Kip):

Nicole‘s Wonder Woman Barbie was one of the few humorous pieces in the show, there was a lot of George Floyd and Covid imagery in paintings, drawings and photography.

It always warms my heart to see young people who have work in the show; here Julia Loth shows off her Flea Market Bottles painting to a proud parent:

Overall, I’d grade this year’s Fine Arts Exhibit as a strong B+. There was a ton of good stuff in all the categories. If you are cool mingling with a crowd of people in a pandemic, check it out, preferably in the morning when the crowds are small. About 95% if the attendees last night were masked, if that would be a consideration for you.

See all of my Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts posts here.