Faith Chonko: Errant Obsession

Faith Chonko opens Errant Obsession at the Dougherty Arts Center on October 10, with the show running through November 28. It's a collage and acrylic exhibition held in the Julia C. Butridge Gallery, and there's an opening reception on Wednesday, October 14, from 7 PM to 9 PM.

Errant Obsession works through the all-consuming forces of addiction and obsession, and what transformation and escape from that mental trap might look like. The title itself points toward that tension: obsession as something that's gone off course, and the effort to steer it back. Chonko's work here is built from collage and acrylic, two mediums that let her layer and rebuild, which fits the theme of working through something rather than just looking at it.

The show draws on an observation the Dougherty Arts Center has made: that while there's immense power in collective focus, it's too often wasted on cycling manias, ritualistic diets and movements, or on stoking a stranger's anger. Chonko takes that idea and turns it inward, asking the viewer to surface their own undercurrent and replace errant obsessions with benevolent ones. It's a prompt to think about where your attention goes when you aren't paying attention to it, and what happens when you decide to put that energy somewhere better.

If you're in the neighborhood, it's an easy one to drop into. The gallery is at 1110 Barton Springs Road, and admission is free. The show runs from October 10 through November 28, so you've got plenty of time to catch it, and the opening reception on October 14 is a good chance to see the work and meet the artist.