Monochromatic May: 31 Days in Grey @ Gallery4Culture

Normally when I go on the First Thursday art walk around Pioneer Square, I go straight from Howard House to SOIL, passing the space on the corner of Washington and Third. But last week, a friend of mine suggested we check out what Gallery4Culture had to offer for the month of May.

Open until May 27th, Amy-Ellen Flatchestedmama Trefsger showcases photographs and clothing items from a month long performance piece that she has been dedicated to for the past three years. Beginning in 2007, Trefsger began Monochromatic May: 31 days in grey project, pledging to wear only shades of grey for a full month. This includes clothing, shoes, underclothing, accessories and even make-up. Silver only makes an appearance through zippers, buttons, and occasional accessories. Black and white are only allowed as threads or buttons.

Every year before the month of grey begins, Trefsger holds a public Color Court, during which submissions for the month’s wardrobe are voted on in a public space. This year’s color court was held on April 28th at, Grey Gallery and Lounge (of course!) where the audience was invited to approve or veto submissions.

But why all of this beaurocracy associated with a self-imposed performance piece? Why the purity of conviction to grey?

In 2004 the artist then known as Amy-Ellen Trefsger legally adopted the middle name Flatchestedmama as an artist’s monicker, even going as far as to hold a wedding ceremony representative of her lifelong commitment to ongoing creativity. She essentially dedicated herself to a life as a practicing artist. According to her artist statement available on her website, “Providing myself with a boundary of intention keeps me on track. No matter how many rejections letters I receive or bad ideas I may come up with, the bottom line is that creativity has always provided me with a greater sense of self.” Naturally, Monochromatic May is a perfect avenue through which to explore this commitment.

According to Trefsger, May has little significance aside from alliterative appeal, but the choice of grey is quite meaningful. Trefsger calls grey “the color between all and nothing.” Grey has endless iconographical meanings, representative of a rainy sky, of old age or sickness, or it can simply be seen as dull and nondescript. Yet standing in front of the photo grid of Trefsger’s past monochromatic days at Gallery4Culture gives the viewer the full array of grey’s true capabilities. Grey is often seen as a perfect intermediary between black and white, but Trefsger lets us know, through her creative variety of clothing and wide choice of shades, that grey couldn’t possibly be more complex.

It takes a special kind of dedication to one’s craft to continue a performance piece twenty-four hours a day, and that is really why Monochromatic May is so well representative of Trefsger’s goals as an artist. It is only through subjecting herself to public scrutiny and taking the time and care to deconstruct a single color, that she can fully live up to her artistic monicker, Flatchestedmama.

Monochromatic May: 31 days in grey runs through May 27th at Gallery4Culture.

Photos by Henk Dawson of D3D

Tags: 4culture, Art, art walk, first thursday, Flatchestedmama, gallery, gray, grey, performance, pioneer square, Trefsger