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September 2016
Review Tohono Chul Art Gallery Revisions: Outside Looking In Reviewed by C.J. Shane |
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Revisions:Outside Looking In, on display now through November 2 at Tohono Chul Art Gallery, is billed as an exhibit that borrows from traditions of intuitive art, visionary art, outsider art, and folk art. Each of these terms has a specific meaning in the art world, and together, they cover a lot of territory. On top of that, we are told that the exhibit celebrates unusual approaches employed by artists that “connect to and yet move away from established modes of representation and art production as well as works of art that elevate reclaimed, repurposed, and recycled materials to the level of the precious.”
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There’s so much territory covered conceptually in the Revisions exhibit statement that I was very curious to see what we would find in the gallery. I discovered that many of the pieces seemed to have only tenuous connection to the multiple concepts behind the exhibit. Despite this, Tucson artists rarely disappoint. Revisions has many interesting and arresting pieces that are worth seeing and considering. We quickly discover that the last bit about “reclaimed, repurposed, and recycled materials” seems to have won out over all the other possibilities for this exhibit.
Take, for example, Sharon Holnback’s “Spine 1, 2, 3”. From across the room, it appears to be quite reminiscent of our beloved Sonoran Desert icon, the ocotillo, with its graceful stems and tiny leaves that disappear most of the year until the rains come. A closer look reveals that this piece is glass and lead, constructed of dozens of colored, cut-off glass bottles. Definitely reclaimed from the recycle bin, the result is a beautiful work of art. |
Sharon Holnback_Spine 1, 2, 3_
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Greg Corman_Shorebirds_
We’re not quite sure what Erin Kennedy’s acrylic and pencil on panel painting titled “Road to Phoenix” has to do with the exhibit theme. And yet both the image and the gentle, subdued pastel palette brings a kind of gentle calm to what is for most of us is an onerous trek. Her “Barrio Blocks” grabs our attention as well.
Also keen on recycling common materials is Greg Corman who has created a rather lyrical piece titled “Shorebirds.” These colorful and graceful birds appear to be on the verge of flight. When we look more closely, we see that they are fashioned of very heavy rebar - recycled wood and steel. Corman is a landscape designer who has an affinity for turning recycled materials into both functional items and art pieces.
Also keen on recycling common materials is Greg Corman who has created a rather lyrical piece titled “Shorebirds.” These colorful and graceful birds appear to be on the verge of flight. When we look more closely, we see that they are fashioned of very heavy rebar - recycled wood and steel. Corman is a landscape designer who has an affinity for turning recycled materials into both functional items and art pieces.
Clark Trujillo_Template Self_
Also working with metal is Clark Trujillo who has work both in the Revisions exhibit and in the Featured Artists Gallery. Trujillo has a gift for finding discarded pieces of metal, among them old spray cans, with interesting and beautiful surface effects. He fashions these metal bits into stunning wall pieces. These found-metal wall pieces, frequently arranged in grids, show the effects of environmental conditions on the metal, which just adds to their beauty. His “Template Self” is a good example of this.
Thrown-away and often very unlikely materials for art are found also in this exhibit. One of the most compelling is Chris Tanz who presents to us the work “Against Entropy,” described as “reclaiming the detritus of life. It is amusing and fascinating to learn that this beautiful work consists primarily of laundry lint.
Thrown-away and often very unlikely materials for art are found also in this exhibit. One of the most compelling is Chris Tanz who presents to us the work “Against Entropy,” described as “reclaiming the detritus of life. It is amusing and fascinating to learn that this beautiful work consists primarily of laundry lint.
JeffreyJonczyk_Pop #2_
Jeffrey Jonczyk paints with acrylic on recycled cardboard rather than on what we usually see: canvas, board, wood, or paper. The recycled cardboard seems only a curiosity or an afterthought. The real impact of Jonczyk’s paintings is that he is a master abstract expressionist with a special affinity for color. Here we see his “Pop #2.” Regretfully, we don’t see enough pure abstraction on the walls of Tucson’s art galleries. We can thank Jonczyk for his unapologetic and colorful pure abstractions, regardless of painting surface.
MaryVaneecke_Frozen in Time III_
Moving to another abstracted piece, but one made of quite different materials, we find fiber artist Mary Vaneecke’s “Frozen in Time III.” According to her description, Vaneecke made use of “hand-dyed, rust-dyed silk fabrics, layered with vintage hand-worked textiles and stitched.”
Vaneecke sees herself as the latest in a long line of individuals, mainly women, who have worked with textiles to create beauty in their homes throughout time. However, Vaneecke’s creative response varies considerably from your grannie’s crocheted doilies. In her work, vintage textiles have literally moved from another time into this time and have become frozen in an entirely new art form.
Vaneecke sees herself as the latest in a long line of individuals, mainly women, who have worked with textiles to create beauty in their homes throughout time. However, Vaneecke’s creative response varies considerably from your grannie’s crocheted doilies. In her work, vintage textiles have literally moved from another time into this time and have become frozen in an entirely new art form.
Beata Wehr_Page 3_
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More bits of found metals are found in the works of Beata Wehr. Here Wehr has taken two pages from her artist’s books and mounted them separately and titled them, appropriately enough, as “Page 3” and “Page 8.” Both created a linen “pages” and pieces of found metal, there is a juxtaposition between hard and soft, light and dark, that make them rather mysterious. We can’t help but wonder what might be the meaning behind these particular associations of metal pieces sewn so carefully onto the linen. How do we “read” these pages?
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Beata Wehr_Page 8_
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Katherine Monaghan_Fe203n...._
Rust has provided artists with fertile ground for art making. Katherine Monaghan’s beautiful rust and acrylic collage on watercolor paper is reminiscent of finely-crafted Persian textiles. . Monaghan is a printmaker who uses metal and water to create rust images on paper, rather than the more traditional printer’s inks. The result is quite arresting. It helps to know that her title, “Fe203,nH20,C5H802-UPAC,” starts with the chemical formula for rust - Fe203n.
Kathleen Koopman’s “Wire Rust Configuration (Ajo 1 and 2)” are two pieces that also incorporate rust in the creation of images. We see the rusted remains of wire on paper mounted on manipulated maps. The overall effect is quite lovely.
Perhaps the most disconcerting artist’s statement in the exhibit was attached to a piece which also incorporates metal and rust. It is titled “Stealing from Leo” by Julie Sasse. The artist had included bits of discarded strings with rusted metal to create her assemblage. Here is what she says in her artist’s statement, “…by incorporating these little talisman from an intuitive art star (appropriating them no less), I also symbolically suggest that my work has a kind of validity that it would not have had if I had bound the bits of string and rusted them myself.”
Because I had looked at Sasse’s assemblage first, the idea of validation never came up. The work stands on its own merit and does not require or need validation. “Stealing from Leo” has a satisfying congruence of horizontal and vertical lines combined with textural aspects made up of those intriguing bits of irregular string and rusted metal. The overall effect is a subtle statement about urban life and the passage of time.
So what about the title and statement? “Leo” refers to Leonardo Drew, a New York City artist who intentionally “rusts” found elements which he incorporates into his art. Sasse says she went onto his roof where he did most of his rusting. There she found bits that she took home and included in her assemblage.
First, that the bits of rust and string came from a well-known artist’s roof has nothing to do with the validity of a work. Art is judged on its own merits, not by whomever may or may not have touched it. If I squeezed paint from a tube that had been used by Mark Rothko and then created a painting, does that make my work more valid? No.
Just below Sasse’s work is another assemblage piece titled “Switching Gears” by Marie Bourret. Judging from Bourret’s statement that she has a “passion for the discarded,” we can conclude that she is having the experience so many artists have when creating. We find ourselves deep in the present moment, and totally dedicated to the act of creating. Validation is a meta-level concern that doesn’t occur to most of us, and which takes us out of the moment of creation. Bourret’s indication of direct mindfulness in the act of creation suggests that her work must have been a lot more fun to put together than Sasse’s. Her use of gears is both beautiful and mandala-like.
Revisions: Outside Looking In will be on display through November 2. Find out more about Tohono Chul Park and Art Gallery at http://tohonochulpark.org/
Kathleen Koopman’s “Wire Rust Configuration (Ajo 1 and 2)” are two pieces that also incorporate rust in the creation of images. We see the rusted remains of wire on paper mounted on manipulated maps. The overall effect is quite lovely.
Perhaps the most disconcerting artist’s statement in the exhibit was attached to a piece which also incorporates metal and rust. It is titled “Stealing from Leo” by Julie Sasse. The artist had included bits of discarded strings with rusted metal to create her assemblage. Here is what she says in her artist’s statement, “…by incorporating these little talisman from an intuitive art star (appropriating them no less), I also symbolically suggest that my work has a kind of validity that it would not have had if I had bound the bits of string and rusted them myself.”
Because I had looked at Sasse’s assemblage first, the idea of validation never came up. The work stands on its own merit and does not require or need validation. “Stealing from Leo” has a satisfying congruence of horizontal and vertical lines combined with textural aspects made up of those intriguing bits of irregular string and rusted metal. The overall effect is a subtle statement about urban life and the passage of time.
So what about the title and statement? “Leo” refers to Leonardo Drew, a New York City artist who intentionally “rusts” found elements which he incorporates into his art. Sasse says she went onto his roof where he did most of his rusting. There she found bits that she took home and included in her assemblage.
First, that the bits of rust and string came from a well-known artist’s roof has nothing to do with the validity of a work. Art is judged on its own merits, not by whomever may or may not have touched it. If I squeezed paint from a tube that had been used by Mark Rothko and then created a painting, does that make my work more valid? No.
Just below Sasse’s work is another assemblage piece titled “Switching Gears” by Marie Bourret. Judging from Bourret’s statement that she has a “passion for the discarded,” we can conclude that she is having the experience so many artists have when creating. We find ourselves deep in the present moment, and totally dedicated to the act of creating. Validation is a meta-level concern that doesn’t occur to most of us, and which takes us out of the moment of creation. Bourret’s indication of direct mindfulness in the act of creation suggests that her work must have been a lot more fun to put together than Sasse’s. Her use of gears is both beautiful and mandala-like.
Revisions: Outside Looking In will be on display through November 2. Find out more about Tohono Chul Park and Art Gallery at http://tohonochulpark.org/
