The Nevada Sagebrush

Photo courtesy of Chad Sweet.

Gallery 3 is a new addition to the blossoming art community in downtown Reno. Since opening in July, the gallery has showcased local and national urban artists. Last week, it ushered in a new exhibit featuring work from local artist Chad Sweet, who explores the concept of beauty in society with his show, “What to Keep.”

“Not many galleries show urban art or street art in Reno,” owner Vicki Colodny said. “There are shows here and there, but there’s not a gallery whose focus is that type of art.”

Upon entering this rectangular gallery, art connoisseurs are surrounded by the artists’ work because of the space’s intimacy.

Previous artists include a mix of national and locally renowned graffiti and street artists like Victor Malagon, Rene Gagnon, The Signtologist and KrossD. Colodny is eager to share street artists whose socially aware and visually striking work speaks to a younger generation.

The opening reception for Sweet, Gallery 3’s most recent artist, was on Friday. Sweet, a visual artist, moved to Reno from New York seven years ago to help a friend start a business. Before moving west, he worked in the professional theater for nine years and currently works as the producing artistic director for Good Luck Macbeth, a classic theater company in town that is also located on Virginia Street, and is the director of the Reno chapter of Dr. Sketchy’s, an alternative drawing school.

Sweet’s current exhibition primarily consists of oil paintings on canvas, some using liquid gold leaf to enhance the work. The show, “What to Keep,” is a collection comprised of two series: “Death to Beauty” and “Self Preservation.”

Sweet’s paintings make a social commentary on our values of beauty and the masks humans wear to preserve themselves as individuals and as a society.

Gallery 3 opened this year in downtown Reno to showcase local and national urban artists. Austin Wallis/Nevada Sagebrush

“Death to Beauty” is about this messed up relationship we have between what we say we value and what we do to actually supportwhat we value,” said Sweet. “For example, you can’t see breasts on television but you can see bombs exploding, people dying. What does that say about how we value humans?”

The paintings in this series feature striking, seductive female forms set atop repetitively abstract backgrounds outlined in liquid gold leaf.

“The backgrounds are abstract to draw attention to the female form, but they’re also valuable,” said Sweet. “Gold itself is a symbol of wealth so it has value, but the woman’s form has also become a commodity — only useful for its value in the eyes of the viewer.

“There is a dichotomy in our value system where we can see a nearly naked woman exposing all of herself on a billboard, yet when we see a woman dressed like that in real life we call her a slut.”

Sweet’s figures stare vacantly out at the viewer with holes for eyes.

“Eyes are the window to the soul, yet what I think we’ve done is taken the soul out of beauty,” he said.

The “Self-Preservation” series explores what we do as individuals and societies when we are threatened. Sweet says we try to cling to things that make us feel safe, yet often times doing so hastens our downfall.

Sweet’s show “What to Keep” offers a colorful critique about beauty, values and the disconnect between the two.

The show will be up at Gallery 3 through Jan. 5, 2012. The gallery is located between a wedding chapel and the Truckee River at 3 N. Virginia St. in the arts district of downtown Reno.

What: “What to Keep” featuring “Death to Beauty” and “Self Preservation”

Where: Gallery 3

3 N. Virginia St.

Reno

When: From noon – 7 p.m. Mon. – Sun. through Jan. 5, 2012.

For more information on Gallery 3’s upcoming artists, visit www.Gallery3art.com or find the gallery on Facebook and Twitter.

775-230-7333

Austin Wallis can be reached at arts-entertainment@nevadasagebrush.com.

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