Clutch Gallery

Justin Jun

    Clutch Gallery travels through the different hands of different people and through different moments of time, and it is somehow always able to spark a light in a person's eye even for a brief moment. To witness the curiosity of the viewer is an integral part of the gallery experience. As the carrier of Clutch Gallery during the time period of November 28th to December 1st, I was given many opportunities to share the wooden purse of secrets with creative people, who were all celebrating the festive weekend of Thanksgiving. Since Clutch represents community, the human interaction with the space itself is crucial in showing others what Clutch Gallery and its artists' intentions are. 

Clutch Gallery spent the Thanksgiving weekend at a number of different locations, some more appropriate to the viewing experience than others. For example, starting chronologically, I took the Clutch Gallery to the Millennium ice rink on Friday where many families, tourists, and artists could be found. To be honest it felt quite odd in the middle of the cold, foggy day to be carrying around the wooden box through the crowd of people wearing ice skates. It was daunting to charm strangers to look into my secret box. I found a table on which I propped opened Clutch's lid, and set it on its side for people to see, and waited for comments. As many, many park-goers glanced and walked away, a  child ran up with her face level with Clutch, looked inside, and up at me and asked “how come the tree is growing out of the wall?” Everyone one else who asked about the gallery received an explanation of Terra/Form as a portable gallery experience with each work of art representing the artists’ relation to the growth they have experienced in community in Chicago.

The one comment that stood out from the others came from an artist by the name of Patricia Hutabarat, who mentioned the fact that “the viewer cannot BE inside the gallery, but still experiences the gallery as if one were inside the structure.” The impossibility to scale the audience to the inside of the gallery really makes it a unique surreal experience, where the mind attempts to warp perception.

 “However, its miniature scale in relationship with its holder gives a certain level of intimacy—where only one person can experience it at a time. Its surreal element lies in its atmosphere, as if here is an oneiric space. All your focus goes into this space, and the experience is given to you in secret.”- Patricia Hutabarat 

On Saturday evening following I took Clutch Gallery to the Christkindl Market, on 50 West Washington St, where the giant orange Calder statue, entitled Flamingo is found. The city of Chicago hosted their annual German influenced vendor market. The shops were of the same exact woody, soft comforting color the Clutch purse is made of. Lighted, the shops were in a sense little boxes filled with wonderful secrets waiting to be opened.It was quite crowded, with shoppers shuffling in and out of shops and stalls, making the site a perfect place for Clutch viewers. Indeed, people were fascinated with the gallery space as well as with the other unique merchandise. The booth at which I chose to display Clutch was a woodworking booth with all sorts of carvings, where each artist had a themed niche, for example one carver specialized in animals, another in human figures, and some with out-of-this-world fantasy carvings, like those one may find in Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. 

The fit for Clutch was splendid, with many people walking up to get personal with the gallery. It was a merry time for all, and the second day of Clutch Galleries being on display proved to be better than the first. 

  The Clutch Gallery had an unexpected performance factor that I had not experienced beforehand, and it was due to the social implications of an (assumed) male with a purse, or in this case a purse-like object. I definitely felt the discomfort when holding the top handle directly with my hand, and in honesty when I received Clutch Gallery from Zara, I made sure to bring a plastic bag to place the purse into so as not to reveal the object to the public. Then I began to realize that the wooden container does not only emulate the notions of feminine designer handbags. I don’t believe women would actually view the container as practical or see it as fashionable. What I experienced was instead the discomfort of simply the word “purse” and the reality that I am the owner of said “purse.” If the class initially were to refer to Clutch Gallery as a “briefcase” I possibly would have not even brought the plastic bag to cover the container in the first place. The gendered friction that I experienced was my own social conditioning about a term that has feminine connotations.