The Burning Bush and The Birds

Brian Condon and Jessica Pope's Location Gallery exhibition "Found Anthologies" has two artists using similar materials to explore different worlds.

[“Porcelina of Vast Oceans” by Jessica Pope Courtesy of the Artist]

Brian Condon and Jessica’s Pope’s two-person exhibition “Found Anthologies” opens Friday, September 13th from 6-8pm at Location Gallery, 251 Bull Street. For the show, both artists have created mixed media assemblages, but their inspirations for the work are wildly different.

Condon, who founded Relic Revival Antiques and Old Cars, has incorporated religious iconography and classical figures to build wall-mounted boxes that feel like altar pieces or shrines. The Burning Bush, the archangel Michael, Albrecht Durer, and Shakespeare’s Ophelia all play roles.

Good Grand Great Wonderful owner Pope, meanwhile, has also crafted a number of shadowbox-like wall pieces, similarly joining old frames and antique ephemera to execute her vision. But her work ditches religious icons for a bunch of people with bird features.

“I’ve been cutting bird heads out for literally no reason for five years,” Pope laughed. “It’s kooky.”

“But then my dad sent me some paper dolls, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, the heads of the birds fit perfectly on the paper dolls!’” She continued. “So what could I do with these things?”

Old Stuff, Old Friends

Condon and Pope met over a decade ago at Wright Square Vintage & Retro Mall, where they both had booths, and quickly struck up a friendship through their business connections. Even today, they each have spaces at Picker Joe's Antique Mall & Vintage Market.

But it wasn’t until the dog days of the pandemic that they realized that they were both artists working in a similar vein.

“Jessica one time called up and said, ‘I’m looking for some old frames,’” Condon recalled. “And then she came over and I had a few pieces done, and she was like, ‘Oh, this is what I’m doing!’”

[“The Death of Ophelia” by Brain Condon Courtesy of the Artist]

“We both started our projects at the same time, but [without] knowing the other was doing so; independently,” he went on to say.

It didn’t take long before they were discussing doing a show, and they laid out a plan to create a dozen or so pieces that they could use to pitch such an exhibition. They first ran it by Telfair Museums’ Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Erin Dunn, whom Pope had worked with previously when she was the museum’s Boxed In/Break Out artist back in 2019, but ultimately, it was determined that the pair wouldn’t be a good fit for the #art912 space. Location Gallery’s Peter Roberts, however, was intrigued by the possibilities that their shared vision could bring to the walls of Corcoran Austin Hill Realty, and he soon had them on the schedule.

Mozart and Mellon Collie

“It’s interesting to have it as a joint show too, having the pieces kind of mixed together,” Pope opined. “Because mine have a specific storyline, but somehow they also work with Brian’s story.”

As noted above, Pope’s “storyline” revolves around people with bird heads, but there’s a lot more going on in the work than just cutting out beaks and feathers and glueing them to classical images of men in suits and women in dresses. The mythology and world-building contained within has been compared to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Mozart’s The Magic Flute, the latter of which focuses on a bird-catcher and a prince searching for the Queen of the Night’s daughter.

“All of those stories are kind of floating in our collective, and we’re just picking them up,” she noted. “I didn’t even know where this stuff came from, until [after the fact].”

[“Stumbeline” by Jessica Pope, named after The Smashing Pumpkins song of the same name Courtesy of the Artist]

And then there are all of the artist’s references to the 90s alt-rock group The Smashing Pumpkins.

“When I started exploring my background, I found [the band] there,” Pope related. “My brother has always said that, ‘Everything you make looks like The Smashing Pumpkins.’ And he’s right. It has that coloring, that kind of dead Victorian era [feel]. It’s vivid, but also pale and dreamlike.”

Many Stories To Be Told

Condon and Pope have stories to tell with their work, but that doesn’t mean that they think your story has to match theirs. Pope recalled a conversation with local art star Katherine Sandoz, where she advised Pope to let their viewers tell them what they see first, before revealing the true inspiration behind the artwork, advice she and Condon have taken to heart. They’re both reticent to share what the art “means,” beyond overall themes and ideas that to most will likely be evident.

“Our work is so different, so I hope [people who come to the show] have a surprised reaction,” expressed Pope. “I can’t wait to hear the stories that other people tell about our work.”

[“The Burning Bush” by Brian Condon Courtesy of the Artist]

On Friday the 13th, Savannahian’s will have the chance to do just that. As images of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph mingle with bird people adapting to their strange transitions, the stories are sure to be as numerous as there are visitors to the show.

More information at locationgallery.net. Find Jessica Pope and Brian Condon online at https://www.jessicapope.com/ and https://www.brianjcondon.com/ respectively. A portion of the proceeds from each sale will benefit RePurpose Savannah.