http://savannahnow.com/node/538653 By Allison Hersh | Sunday, July 27, 2008 at 12:30 am
Janet Onofrey lived in South Florida for the past 12 years, but never felt at home there. This talented artist, who is a member of Oil Painters of America, the American Impressionist Society and Plein Air Florida, explains that she experienced a deep sense of discomfort living in Weston, Fla., a community composed of 30 subdivisions. She decided to examine her feelings of unease, ultimately transferring her observations about gated and master-planned communities into a series of thought-provoking paintings. “Utopia Subdivided,” an exhibit on display at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Hall Street Gallery through the end of the month, offers scathing commentary on the psychology and sociology of gated communities. In this M.F.A. thesis show, Onofrey explores the collective fantasy of safety and security that drives people to live their lives in gilded cages painted in reassuring, pre-approved colors like Cream Fleece, Tucson Tan and Ivory Lustre. “These are beautiful places if you like Disneyland conformity, where your grass can’t grow higher than 3 inches,” she said. “It’s all an illusion.” “Utopia Subdivided” excels at exposing that illusion, presenting a terrifying vision of near-identical peach stucco homes with terra cotta roofs nestled within well-groomed, palm tree-studded landscapes. Interestingly, she never depicts the residents of these neighborhoods, instead allowing the picture-perfect homes, deserted streets and “No Trespassing” signs to tell the story.
In a series of 14 original works, mostly oil on birch, Onofrey emphasizes the quiet, undeniable sense of alienation engendered by gated communities. In paintings like “Sentinels of Exclusion” and “Divided We Fall,” she underscores the ways in which residents seek solace behind gates and fences, creating a segregated, class-driven, us-and-them dichotomy which traps residents in air-conditioned suburban isolation. Ultimately, she suggests, residents trade individuality, originality and freedom of expression and for the safe, hollow comfort of conformity. “Because our physical setting affects our attitude, values and perception of the world, this suburban utopia has social and cultural influences,” she explained. “With a significant portion of our society equating the ‘American dream’ with a land developer’s manufactured surroundings, I question the impact of these aesthetics and barriers on the quality of family life, communities, priorities and our ecology.” Onofrey, a native of Pittsburgh who is currently completing her M.F.A. in painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design, explains that every composition has been inspired by real scenes she has witnessed in South Florida, from groves of identical trees hugging the road in “Mass Conformity” to automated guard houses in “Unmanned Guards.” Interestingly, she strategically leaves the bare birch wood unpainted in portions of many paintings, allowing its swirling, striated grain to suggest clouds in the sky or the side of a house. “The oils are painted on birch panels to signify the inflexibility of construction materials,” she explained, “but the wood grain is exposed to suggest the layers of illusion that permeate this environment.” In the end, Onofrey hopes that her “Utopia Subdivided” will encourage viewers to question this prefabricated, master-planned lifestyle that prizes privacy, membership and adherence to rules over a real sense of connection and community. Money spent on elaborate landscaping and imposing guard houses, she said, might be better spent on public education or helping those in need in the community at large. “I’d like to start a conversation with this exhibit about whether these kinds of communities are really good for us,” she said. “Let’s open our minds to other options.” IF YOU GO What: “Utopia Subdivided,” featuring new paintings by Janet Onofrey When: Through July 31 Where: Hall Street Gallery, 212 W. Hall St. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday Information: 525-4727 or www.scadexhibitions.com