Eye of the Tiger, Belly of the Beast. Jessercise at UCM Gallery of Art & Design

Humorous cliches were abound in Jessica Frelinghuysen’s installation Jessercise

Gymnasium, which recently closed at the University of Central Missouri Art Gallery in

Warrensburg, Missouri. However, beneath the can-do platitudes throughout the installation,

we get an understanding from the artist’s motivations for the similarities of achievements and

failures between the gallery space and the fitness studio.

The gallery is arranged as a smallish gym, circa 1985. With painted bands on the walls of

maroon, orange, and yellow, the mood embodies retro-fleek, like Jane Fonda’s workout

series. Interspersing these bands are small placards demonstrating workouts called Art Tips,

featuring actual exercises that also relate to the gallery space. Examples include the Gallery

Lunge that demonstrates the proper technique for lunges to be performed whilst walking

around the gallery. Posted along the walls are inspirational posters of the artist and fitness

friends in workout gear and activewear. Another wall features wall mounts holding a set of

yoga mats, jump ropes and dense fruit including watermelon for lifting, like old fashioned

medicine balls. Also on the racks were bottles of champagne used during performances with

audience participation.

Against another wall, Frelinghuysen set up a small carpeted platform and led gallery visitors

in an instructional workout. This included moves like the Pop and Squat, using the

champagne bottles mentioned above as “Hydration Weight.” Never mind the Bend and Snap

when there’s a champagne payoff instead! Participants also engaged in a sprint around the

gallery, dipping into a bowl of potato chips with each lap.

Also part of the workouts were an A-frame dumbbell rack holding snack foods and treats. A

second dumbbell stand held large jars of pasta sauce, a pineapple that had been there since

the show opened, now mummified, and a giant bag of Basmati rice. If you didn’t know this

was a show about exercise, you might get the idea this space was transitioning from a

bankrupted gym to a poorly stocked convenience store.

The use of these specific foods is meant to be specific to the Warrensburg, Missouri area,

about sixty south of Kansas City. When Frelinghuysen originated this project in her adopted

hometown of Hamtramck, Michigan, it was done so with consideration of the diversity of

immigrants and artists inside Detroit, and represented by the food enjoyed there. It was

thanks to the availability of these tasty international foodstuffs, the artist sought to actively

lose weight. Forced to go to the suburbs for an actual gym, Frelinghuysen saw “the parallels

between working out and making art. There is an undeniable similarity between being in the

white-walled space of a gallery and the neutral space of an exercise studio. The daily

dedication to each practice, and the futility and small triumphs that come with both.”

The exhibition took shape when she began creating “performative and subversive public

interventions,” allowing her to use her city as a training ground. This included feats like

“tossing sides of meat with the butcher in Bozek’s meat market and lifting a huge bag of

onions outside Al Haramain Market, a local Yemini run grocery.”

The humor of this exhibition is intended to focus on Frelinghuysen’s struggles with weight

loss. However, these interactions are “honest feats of strength.” Moreover, the main point of

the artist’s intent is to present a lightheartedness to exercise, an activity that can, at least in

the beginning, be viewed with dread. Jessercise has shown us the dedication of two

practices–her artist’s practice and her workout regiment–along with their difficulties and

successes.

Jessercise was held at the UCM Gallery of Art & Design from February 10 through March 7,

2020.

University of Central Missouri

217 E. Clark Street

Warrensburg, MO. 64093