September 14, 2010 | TEDxSMU Rapid Artists Salon + Exhibit Opening
In November 2009, SculptCAD,
a front runner in blending sculpture and CAD for manufacturing and reverse
engineering, invited artists to hang a left from the utilitarian use of
this technology and do what they do when they do art. Shawn Smith joins RAPID artists Brad Ford Smith, Dave Van Ness, Jay
Sullivan, Erica Larkin, Heather Ezell, Ginger Fox, Heather Gorham,
Katherine Batists, Mark Grote, Shane Pennington, Tom Lauerman, Bert
Scherbarth, and Nancy Hairston in this groundbreaking project that is
consistent with the contemporary vision of the extraordinary Dallas Arts District.
"Wouldn't it
be interesting to see what these artists would come up with, if they had
access to 3D tools." mused Nancy Hairston, Founder of SculptCAD. An
idea was born: SculptCAD Rapid Artists Project. The experience has been
transformative, expanding the creative process and arousing a shift in
thinking about how art comes to take it's place in the physical realm.
A very, very contemporary approach to art. Why "Rapid"? Rapid
Prototype Printing, 3D Scanning and Digital Sculpture. New approaches to
art making and art output. High speed. On Demand. It allows the impossible
to be possible. The SculptCAD Rapid Artists will show the possibilities
they discover.
TEDxSMU is partnering
with SculptCAD on the Dallas premier of the SculptCAD Rapid Artists exhibition.
This exhibition explores the boundaries between sculpture and the digital
media. The TEDxSalon will discuss themes relating to technology, art and
humanity. What separates the hand of the artist from the automated program
and how the artists learned to manipulate this new visual language, and
use it to create sculptures that represent their personal creative outlook.
The project will benefit
the Edith Baker Scholarship for the Booker T. Washington High School for
the Performing and Visual Arts. Many of the participating artists are alumni
of Arts Magnet and all exemplify the innovative spirit to make this show
a noteworthy success. We believe this groundbreaking project is consistent
with the contemporary vision of the extraordinary Dallas Arts District.
The exhibit will open
at One Arts Plaza with an evening event co-produced by TEDxSMU and SculptCAD.
Please join us for the exhibit and a TEDxTalk from Nancy Hairston, Heather Gorham, Brad Ford Smith, and Shawn Smith. Afterwards the artists will
be available for one-on-one discussions about their sculptures, inspiration
and the experience of working with 3D modeling technology.
Tuesday, September
14 6:00-8:00pm
Presentations at 6:30
One
Arts Plaza Lobby 1722 Routh Street, Dallas, TX 75201
Shawn Smith was
born in 1972 in Dallas, TX where he attended Arts Magnet High School
and Brookhaven College before graduating from Washington University in
St. Louis, MO with a BFA in Printmaking in 1995. Smith received his MFA
in Sculpture from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco in
2005. He has received artist-in-residencies from the Kala Art Institute
in Berkeley, CA and the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, France.
In 1996, Smith was a recipient of the Clare Hart DeGolyer grant from the
Dallas Museum of Art. In 2006, he was commissioned to create a
monumental public sculpture in San Francisco, CA. Smith’s work has been
exhibited throughout the United States and in France. Smith currently
resides in Austin, Texas and is represented by Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas and d. berman gallery in Austin.
Everett
Double Dahl
Shrodinger’s Hat
LP: Crushed ice, cubed, or none? Or that weird cylindrical
kind with a hole in the middle? Bonus question: if you could have an
ice cube mold in any shape, what would it be?
SS: Cubed – Does not melt as fast. For the bonus question – it is a toss up between a wasp nest or Alfred Hitchcock.
LP: Which are better, obstacle courses or bounce houses?
SS: Definitely obstacle course. I like lots of vertical details, subterranean elements, and mud.
LP: Desert island song:
SS: ”Who’s Gonna Save my Soul” by Gnarls Barkley or “Save Me” by Aimee Mann.
LP: How has your upbringing / childhood affected your art, or has it?
SS: I was born the year of Pong so I’ve always felt connected to blocky
digital images. My father was very much a “detail” type person and a
lot of that rubbed off on me.
LP: Explain your process start to finish. Are you just a
glutton for punishment, or do you enjoy the seemingly tedious process
that your concepts demand?
SS: A tediously long answer for a tediously long process: Step 1: Mapping. I generally start by working out the
concepts/idea with hand drawn sketches. Then, I find images of my
subject matter, usually online. At this point I do another drawing (or
“map” as I call it) on graph paper. By now, I will have an idea about
what material I would like to use.I use a variety of materials, for
example: balsa, bass, plywood, various plastics, and MDF (I call it
the sausage of woods.) Step 2: Cutting. For larger pieces I start with a 4′x8′ sheet
of plywood and mill it down to individual strips. For example if I am
using 1/2″ plywood, I mill the sheet down to 1/2″ strips. Next, I set
up a jig on the table saw and cut the incremental pieces. So for
example, if I am using 1/2″ plywood cut into 1/2″ strips, I will
probably cut the strips into 1/2″ increments like 1/2″ cubes up to
24″x1/2″x1/2″. Yes, I still have all my fingers. Step 3: Adding color. I hand dye each pixel individually. I
hand-mix my inks and dyes with various mediums and start adding
color. Most of the dye is altered by adding other colors or shades
after a few pieces are colored. After all of the dyeing, I sort the
pieces according to size and color. The sorting is especially tedious. Step 4: Building. I usually start in the middle of the piece
(usually on a French cleat if it is a wall piece) and work out towards
the edges. I use a lot of wood glue. I buy it by the gallon.
I don’t feel like a glutton for punishment; it is just how I work.
Lindsay Preston
is an artist and graphic designer from San Diego. In “Lindsay’s
Quick Queries”, Lindsay brings you work by contemporary artists, and
answers to the questions everyone has been wondering about them,
like “pancakes or waffles?”
Sculptures
by Shawn Smith Installed on the 10th Floor of the Austonian
May 10, 2010
This week, a trio of sculptures by Austin-based artist Shawn Smith was installed on
the 10th floor Lawn of the Austonian. A place where homeowners can relax, swim and
entertain guests, The Lawn is home to native plants, trees and a
reflecting pond.
The three stainless steel sculptures titled "Fuentes Ficticias" (translated to "Fictional Fountains") echo the movement of water in a
pixilated 3D pattern.
The Austonian rises above downtown Austin and every other place to live
in the Lone Star State as the tallest residential building in Texas. The Austonian, which opens
this June, has an art collection comprised of work by over 40 local and
regional artists.
By Rebecca Sherman | Photos by Justin Clemons and Dan
Piassick | Modern Luxury Dallas |
April 5, 2010
Villa architecture seems an unlikely choice for lovers
of contemporary design, but that’s just what Lance andShari Vander Linden had in mind for the exterior of
their 9,000-square-foot Preston Hollow abode, completed in 2008. For the
interiors, they envisioned big, open rooms furnished with clean, modern
pieces that would be comfortable and sturdy enough for three boisterous
teenagers and their friends. “We like the villa look, but we also love
modern,” says Shari. “We wanted a house that was good for entertaining,
so flow was important. But the kind of entertaining we do is mostly with
family and friends. We didn’t need anything formal or stuffy, and we
didn’t want wasted space.”
The Vander Lindens took their ideas to architect Richard
Drummond Davis, best known for classic villa style. To make
it all come together, Davis knew that the traditional façade had to
somehow tie into the contemporary interior aesthetic. “We automatically
made the exterior more austere, simple and unornamented. We left off the
frou-frou,” says Davis, who worked with contractor Barry Buford
of Buford
Builders, Inc., to build the house from smooth-cut Texas
limestone, which provides a clean, crisp look. Carved, decorative
cornices and entablatures found in most villa-style architecture were
omitted. The arches are without keystones or plinth blocks, and the
porches without decorative trim. Instead of the ubiquitous cathedral
front entry and foyer, Davis lowered the ceiling to human scale, just
one story high. “The essence of this house is that it’s relaxed and not
overworked,” he says.
The house was a team effort among Davis and interior designers Robyn
Menter and Alicia Quintans, of Robyn Menter
Design Associates, Inc., who came into the project from day
one. “We got involved in the space planning early with Richard to make
sure the rooms were large enough for what the family wanted,” says
Menter, who also brought in lighting consultant Ann Linley to create
appropriate lighting for the Vander Linden’s growing collection of
contemporary art.
A house is not a home until every family member feels comfortable in
it. Even the children had their say about what worked and what didn’t
and were allowed to choose colors and materials for their own rooms.
Each family member drew up a short list of must-haves: Lance, 52, an
attorney, wanted a gallery space big enough to hold future modern art
acquisitions. Jack, 18, a pitcher who will be heading to Georgetown
University on a baseball scholarship next fall, requested a
pitching mound in the back yard. Shari, 45, wanted a big laundry room
with double washers and dryers and “tons of counter space.” Owen, 11,
who loves rocks and fossils, got a bathroom tiled in river rocks, and
17-year-old Hailey’s wish for a hanging Eero Aarnio
bubble chair came true, just in time for move-in and her birthday.
Most of the design re-quirements were discussed early on, such as the
family’s desire to have a large kitchen that flowed directly into a
large family room, and from there, a large veranda with an outdoor
kitchen, dining table and sitting area. They wanted the first level to
house the master suite, with the children’s rooms and a game room
located on the second floor.
To keep the conversation flowing when the children are upstairs,
Davis designed a Juliet-style balcony overlooking the family room. With
the view from above in mind, a space-saving custom, curved sofa and
custom ottoman with storage were designed and upholstered in washable
outdoor fabrics. Menter and Quintans didn’t want to clutter the room
with too many seating areas, but a card table was a non-negotiable item.
Says Shari: “Our family is really big into playing cards and puzzles.
My mother taught us girls to play progressive gin, and so my sisters and
I have taught our daughters the game. The boys love to play poker.” A
custom metal and glass table does the trick, with lightweight leather
Cab chairs easily moved around for watching TV.
Warm earth tones in oranges, browns and greens are continued from the
family room to the outdoor room to visually connect the two spaces,
says Menter. Douglas fir beams and solid walnut doors help warm up the
house’s white walls and limestone floors. Shari’s favorite color is
red—it also happens to be one of Menter’s—so it was used judiciously
throughout to punch up the neutral palette. One of the more dramatic
uses of red is in a sculpture by Austin artist Shawn Smith, which they
commissioned for a niche in their new groin vaulted gallery. Smith met
with the Vander Lindens before coming up with his design, meticulously
created from hundreds of small, red wooden blocks forming five
fluttering red birds—one for each Vander Linden.
“It was in honor of our family,” says Shari. Nothing could have been
more appropriate.
March 27 - May 1, 2010 Opening Reception, Saturday, March 27th 5:00 - 8:00 PM
Craighead Green
Gallery is proud to introduce our upcoming group exhibition "You're
Invited", a celebration in recognition of new works from
Gallery artists. We are also proud to acknowledge our fifth year on
Dragon Street.
Partial
list of participating artists:
Linda McCall, Kendall Stallings, David Crismon, Carolyn Brown,
Connie Connally, Marci Crawford-Harnden, Marty Ray, Ursula O'Farrell,
Jerry Cabrera, David Brown, Leslie Tejada, Charlie Goodwin, Kirk Tatom,
Jeri Ledbetter, Michelle O,Michael, Danna Ruth Harvey, Jason Brown,
Denise Brown, Brad Ellis, Cecil Touchon, Jay Maggio, Mark Smith,
Christine Hayman, Steve Seinberg, Shawn Smith, Kenda North, Jeanie
Gooden, Heather Gorham, Orna Feinstein, Bill Weaver, Pancho Luna, Lee
Mascarenhas, Justin Ginsberg, Jackson Hammack, Norman Kary, Carolyn
McAdams, Colin Murasko, Raymond Saa, Chris Mason, JP Long, Gary
Schafter, Marla Zeigler, Rich Bowman, Carole Pierce, Arturo Mallmann,
Paul Abbott, Chris Armstrong, Gregg Coker, Pearl Dick, Bill Fegan, John
Hathorn, Harry Ally
Public sculptures in San Francisco project evoke elements of the development process
by KEELEY WEBSTER
January 19, 2010
photo courtesy of Drew Kelly
It is almost as if the sculptures selected for Shorenstein Properties
LLC's Mission Bay office development were inspired by the tenant, a
biotech company.
Artist Tony Cragg's stainless steel sculpture "I'm Alive," located on
the front lawn of the property, looks like a water drop with a tail. As
described by Cragg, the piece's theme is the relationship between
geometric and organic form and explores the nature of metamorphosis and
evolution.
Meanwhile, the "Doppel Fountain (for Ann)" created by Shawn Smith was made from 1,000 pieces of stainless steel.
Smith's intention was to create the feel of fl owing water.
Both could be biotechnology-related themes, but Leah Levy, an
independent curator and art historian who served as the public art
advisor for the project and selected the artists, said she did not even
know who the tenant was when the decision was made to buy Cragg's piece
and to hire Smith to design a sculpture. The complimentary thematic
connections between art and business as the headquarters for FibroGen,
a privately-owned biotech company, were purely coincidental.
The office park, located at 409-499 Illinois St. in San Francisco's
Mission Bay district, is a research facility housing businesses and
institutions that work in the biomedical and biotechnology sectors.
"We selected these two unique and compelling sculptures to refl ect
both the vibrancy of the place and its residents and to make a
contribution to the experience of outdoor sculpture for the entire
community," said Paul Grafft, senior vice president of Shorenstein
Properties and asset manager of the development.
For the most part, when Levy, who has provided art program coordination
for the Art Master Plan in San Francisco's Mission Bay and Foundry
Square among other public and private projects, is hired to find
public art to decorate the grounds of a building, the tenant is
unknown. So how exactly does a developer decide what art will work for
a building?
"For me, there is no one answer," she said. "It depends On what the
site is, the landscape is, what the budget is, as well as the attitudes
of the developer and the potential client." There also are other
practical considerations, such as which artists are available and who
can get the piece done within the project's timeline.
"Some people think it is simple - that you just go out and get a
piece," Levy said. "It is like writing a book or making a movie. There
is always much more behind the process then you might realize when you
see the project." Even if the tenant is known, that may not be a factor
in choosing a piece or artist for a project, Levy said.
"Sometimes I am just looking for the best piece of art for an outdoor
site and it is completely unrelated to what will be happening inside,"
she said. "There aren't clear rules or guidelines. She admits that
both pieces do appear to have a connection to biotechnology, however.
"There is a sense that Shawn Smith's work that deals With pixelation is
very contemporary and hooks into the nature of biotech," Levy said. "Tony Cragg's piece also could be seen to relate to what is going on in
the building." And even if a piece were designed with a specific tenant in mind, sculpture lends itself to interpretation.
"I'm Alive" has as its backdrop Mission Bay, so someone said it looked
like a wave," Levy said. "There are a lot of options for understanding
the piece." The range of instruction that artists are given when they
create a corporate art piece is broad.
"Some city projects are very limited. A lot of direction is given if it
is a historic site," Levy said. "But to say that a picture of a broom
should be placed in front of a building because a building supply
company is the tenant is too limited." And part of the wonder of
dealing with artists is experiencing what they come up with that a
non-artist would never think of, Levy said.
Levy purchased the Cragg piece for the project, but the sculpture
designed by Smith was commissioned after being selected from a group of
20 artists who submitted proposals.
Smith's proposal was to produce a "nomadic" or "wandering" sculpture
that would look almost as if a bird perching on the wall, he said.
"I had the idea of using multiple pieces to construct it, which kind of worked into the biotech theme," Smith said.
"I was imagining the sculpture moving around and landing somewhere." In
a way, the process of selecting the artists and the execution of the
art project parallels that of a developer going through the development
process.
The guidance that Smith was given on the outlook was that there was an
architectural landscape problem that needed to be solved with the
sculpture resting on a slim black square that protruded near a set of
stairs.
"There was a structural problem as to what could go up there and work
with the elements, but other than that the only parameters were
budgetary concerns and deadlines," Smith said.
Time's running out to catch these must-see exhibits
By DOUGLAS BRITT Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 8, 2010, 12:28PM
The
first full week of 2010 is the perfect time to catch up on art
exhibitions you didn't see before the end of 2009. But you'll have to
hurry because these shows are only up through Saturday.
Lawndale Art Center
Kia Neill has
blocked off most of the Lawndale Art Center's second floor to create an
environment into which you're fully immersed the moment you step out of
the elevator. You're in a cave, complete with stalactites and moss-like
growths, but one that's tricked out with blinking lights and shiny
edges that turn out to be shards of compact discs.
The tightness of
the space induces a mild claustrophobia that's offset by the cheerful
kitschiness of Neill's embellishments. In her artist statement, Neill
draws analogies to manmade imitations of natural environments such as
household aquariums, with their fake foliage and rock formations. In
her Grotto, you get to be the fish.
Take the stairs,
not the elevator, to the third floor project space, where an icky
growth on the handrail may at first have you wanting to call the health
department, then wondering if the strange, artificial fungus is a
continuation of Neill's piece. In fact, it's part of Jasmyne Graybill's
mini-exhibit, Negotiation,
which also includes Petri dishes filled with her recreations of
mold-like substances. The title refers to "the ongoing negotiations for
space that arise everyday between nature and domestic life," making
Graybill's show a perfect postscript to Neill's. It also makes me want
to see what will happen when Graybill, an artist to watch, infests a
larger space.
Entering the
project space, we're again immersed in a strange world, this time an
old-timey office, one that predates not just computers but electric
typewriters and push-button phones. It appears to be some type of law
enforcement agency, though the reports that Shawn Smith has tacked to
the bulletin boards leave you wondering just what jurisdictions these
detectives, if that's what they are, serve.
At any rate, there
are no people here, only life-size vultures. But Smith's vulture
sculptures look like they're made of 3-D computer pixels, as if they've
swooped in from the digital world to wreak havoc on this analog office.
Because a group of vultures is called a venue, Smith's clever title, Vicious Venue,
can refer both to his strange birds and to the room they now occupy.
You could spend a lot of time navigating Smith's mysterious narrative,
but would you ever solve it?
Inman Gallery
At Inman Gallery,
David Aylsworth presents a strong body of recent abstract paintings.
Their compositions rely heavily on triangular edges, but calling them
geometric paintings feels too cold, perhaps because of their jazzy
rhythms, their mostly creamy palettes and their often hedonistic
surfaces. White plays an important role in most of these canvases,
covering earlier layers of color but not quiet obliterating them,
leaving open spaces with lingering traces of presences that once
occupied them.
While you're at
Inman, be sure to check out Beth Secor's portraits -- some embroidered,
some drawn. In some cases, they depict friends; in others, Secor works
from found photographs. It's easy to breeze in and out of the room on
first glance, but force yourself to slow down and really look, and
you'll reap a big payoff that belies the portraits' intimate sizes.
There's something selfishly exciting about checking out an installation at Lawndale
and being the only patron in the building. That's probably not what the
organization wants to hear -- I mean, the place should be buzzing. But
with the current batch of artists showing there, it was a thrill to
explore the building's three stories and the rooms and stairwells
feeling like an invisible spy or an investigator of strange phenomena.
I heard the disembodied voices of the staff, footsteps, doors opening
and closing, work being done, but by some strange coincidence, not a
face was seen; not one fleeting glimpse of a person. It made for an
unsettling, and ultimately fun, experience -- perfect really for the
work on display, since there's something in all these works that
addresses an invasive entity taking over or intruding upon the everyday
world.
Monica Vidal's "Blow Up Heart" show occupies the main first-floor space. Her sculpture Tumor Hive
dominates the room, and was inspired by a photograph of a large tumor
she had removed two years ago, and this thing must've been one
crazy-nasty growth, since Vidal says the piece's colors and textures
were also influenced by the tumor. The tent-like Tumor Hive
stands 12 feet tall and is 22 feet long. Its frame is made up of
plywood and fiberglass rod covered in quilt-like fabric that ranges
from peach and fleshy colors to pinks and fuchsia. Its two "openings"
are impenetrable. Vidal also displays a series of paintings and
drawings depicting figures (including herself) wearing garments
inspired by an Aztec ritual in which worshippers donned flayed human
skins. In the images, the scaly forms envelop heads and even entire
bodies. In one, Vidal's head is exposed, and she looks kind of like
Bjork on the Homogenic album cover. Vidal also includes a life-size reproduction of the costume, made (thankfully) from flesh-colored felt.
Vidal's contribution is perhaps the most creepy and Cronenbergian
example of organic "corruption," a strange mixture of nature and
synthetic material, on display, but the theme continues as you get on
the elevator to the mezzanine. As you hit the second floor, and the
doors open, it's like you've entered a portal to a '60s Star Trek episode.
Stepping out of the elevator and into Kia Neill's
"Grotto" installation, a dark, tight cave with hanging stalactites and
blinking crystals overgrown with Spanish moss, was one of the most
otherworldly things I've experienced in Houston in a while. It was
genuinely disorienting, weird and hilarious. Neill's aim is "to place
emphasis on gaudy or absurd embellishment" to "render an enhanced
synthetic ideal." Mission accomplished. Rather than imagine a totally
original and "realistic" extraterrestrial environment, Neill instead
mines our collective ideals of kitschy-sci-fi fantasy worlds to trigger
an emotional response rooted in mass culture, a shared experience
symbolically linked to what Neill calls the "invented artifact." It
sounds heady, and it is (like the best examples of the sci-fi genre),
but it's not convoluted. The best ideas are also simple ones, and Neill
hits a home run here with run-of-the-mill materials like papier-mache,
chicken wire, burlap, foam, paint, glitter and some blinking lights.
She manages to transport us out of Lawndale's architectural realm in a
really cool way. Kids will love it, but it's sophisticated enough to
engage everyone.
If you can pull yourself away from Grotto, head up the stairwell to the third floor and be careful not to miss Jasmyne Graybill's "Negotiation" on the way up. I did, so more on that later.
At first I wasn't sure if the third floor Project Space was open,
since the lights were off, but the doors were open so I peeked in. A
motion detector engaged the lights, and again, the creepy vibe came
back. Shawn Smith's
installation "Vicious Venue" re-creates a mid-century-era police
station office (probably homicide) overtaken by vultures. But in this
case, the vultures appear to have materialized from some wacky future
in which nature has merged with pixilated light. The life-size
vultures, looking like 3-D versions of computerized 2-D images,
scavenge the office for food, but instead of rotting flesh, they feast
on outdated technology like rotary phones, obsolete typewriters and
spools of 8mm film. Made from balsa wood, ink and acrylic paint, the
vultures look like they were created by degrading images found online,
which were then re-created sculpturally. Amazingly, they still manage
to embody that dirty, deathlike aura, even in a pixilated state. One
bird watches over the proceedings perched on a mounted deer head,
obviously uninterested in what would once, in its devolved vulture
state, represent a feast. Smith turns the tables on some of the other
environments on display -- his represents the digital world devouring
history. Smith also raises the stakes in a really interesting way by
placing his narrative within the context of outdated methods of
homicide investigation. And I was delighted to find a rolled-up copy ofShakespeare's The Tempest in one of the office drawers -- perhaps the vultures' next prey will be archaic literature. Now that's vicious.
Heading back down, it's easier to encounter Graybill's Unknown Specimens,
polymer clay re-creations of organic matter growing in Petri dishes on
a window ledge, but here rendered not in drab moldy tones but in
brilliant color. And her work Gestation, made from latex and
flock, mimics a fungal growth that has infested one of the stairwell
handrails -- the synthetic feasting on the synthetic. Full circle.
But perhaps the best (and bittersweet) part of this weird journey, though, is the trip back through Neill's Grotto
and to the elevator, pushing the button to the first floor, turning
around and watching the curtain close on this otherworldly realm.
Will I make it through this quick review of Shawn Smith's "Vicious Venue" at Lawndale without referencing Jean Baudrillard more than once? I think so, but it might be difficult.
Walking into Lawndale's third floor project space feels like getting
sucked into a video game of the Tomb Raider variety. First off, it's
dark. The lights only come on once you enter the room. The entire place
is decked out in furniture that screams Mad Men, but the issue of the Saturday Evening Post
on the coffee table is dated April 10, 1948, so I could be off by a
decade or so. We're clearly in some kind of investigator's office. On
the wall are photos and coroner's reports. The documents reference
Queensland, Israel, Downing Street and Las Vegas. An old radio spits
out white noise. It's all very dissettling, and I haven't even gotten
to the eight pixilated vultures lurking about.
Crafted from hand-dyed pieces of wood, these
carrion-loving birds have torn apart a telephone and a typewriter, and
one of them sits atop a taxidermied, nine-point buck, its ears and lips
shredded by the bird's blocky beak. I'm not sure if you've ever seen a
frayed piece of taxidermy, but it's not pleasant.
So what do we have here exactly? Nature, taken over by technology,
attacks an earlier version of ourselves. Throw in a little murder
mystery and some super cool touches, such as a stack of sugar cubes and
an image of lumber that both reference pixilation, and you'e got quite
a scene. It's almost pitch perfect, save for a Charlie McCarthy doll
poking his head out of the desk drawer. Seriously, what's he doing in
there?
Maybe we could ask the vulture who's pulling a copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein off the shelf. He might have some ideas.
Lawndale Art Center: Interactions of the Artistic Kind
In 6 Words: Stenographer, Petri-art, Geode, Tents, Interactive, Stalactite
The art world has been a mystery to me for ages. I have always imagined a sub-culture of artists actively rejecting the world of squares
to live their right-brained life in secret. Well, the secret is that
it's not much of a hidden world at all, you just have to be willing to open your eyes
and look for it. It's easy to gravitate toward the museums and their
classics by the masters. But, I've always failed to recognize the art
that's all around. From the work of the graffiti artists in town to the
private galleries with their doors always open, I've just kept driving
or walking without a passing glance. All that was needed was a metaphorical fist to the proverbial jaw to knock my eyes open. Lawndale Art Center was very much willing to deliver the blow to my cranium, but instead of seeing stars, it opened up my entire cosmos.
By the time I pull up to the Lawndale Art Center at 4912 Main Street
in Houston's museum district, I've missed the artists' talks. These
probably would have been a good thing to catch, considering that my education in the artistic realm doesn't go much further than "color inside the lines."
Then again, the idea of going to this opening with an uninfluenced
palate may be for the best. It's something of a cultural study. Can the
untrained eye see the artist's intentions?
I pull into the lot to the left of Lawndale and find a spot in the
mostly empty lot. Stage one complete, I'm in the right place. Stage two
will be finding the correct door. I walk North along Main, hoping for
the best, and find an open glass door that shows people roaming within.
They look like people that are looking at art. This must be the right
place.
I step through the doorway and walk in to a room with a vaulted ceiling, barely partitioned by an "L"
close to the front door. Rounding the corner, around the point of the
elbow, is a patchwork, half-circle tent propped up in the center of the
room. Rectangular sections of different colors are sewn together over a frame, giving it it's distinct half-Cheerio shape. I bypass the big-top for now, opting instead, to find the bar which Afrodethas told me she'll be working for the night.
The "bar" (nothing more than a folding table, draped in linen, with a bucket of wine and a keg of St. Arnold's beer
to its side) is in the corner of the room, next to a staircase that
seems to lead to nowhere in particular. Greeting my fellow loopscoop
author, she introduces me to her cohorts behind the bar, who are
serving the gallery's guests. There are many more people in attendance
than I had anticipated, though Lawndale has secured enough red and white to sate a small army. Afrodet
gives me a quick rundown of the happenings: in the main room is Monica
Vidal's Blow Up Heart, the next room holds the Moonlight Towers by Andy
Mattern, up the elevator is Grotto created by Kia Neill and Jasmyne
Graybill's Negotiation is upstairs along with Vicious Venue by Shawn
Smith. Many more installations than I ever expected. Volunteering to write about the opening may have been a bite more than I can chew.
I grab a plastic pint glass and have it filled up with St. Arnolds Amber and decide that my best course of action will be starting at the top and trickling back down through the exhibits.
I walk by the large tent in the middle of the expanse of the main
exhibit and take a right into a smaller room that leads to the
elevator. We rise to the second floor, and I exit into a womb of rock
and plastic gems -- this must be Grotto by Kia Knell. It's as if I've been shrunk and placed inside the center of an amethyst geode that were so popular when I was a kid. The space is dark and it's difficult to make out most of the details, but I'm alert enough to avoid a stalactite hanging in the middle of the walkway at eye-level.
There are too many people trying to walk through the cramped space and it seems awkward for me to stop and stare when
the elevator is the only access back downstairs. As a couple of people
pause to take a picture within the Grotto, I scoot by them and head for
the stairs. I hold the rail as I ascend up the steps and I'm greeted by the tickle of something on the underside of the the black metal.
Please tell me that someone hasn't disgraced Lawndale by disposing over
their gum like an immature adolescent. I quickly find that that's not
the case at all.
Within the stairwell exists art. It is here at every turn. I begin
to wonder if the fire alarms are for use or admiration as I become
aware of Jasmyne Graybill's Negotiation, neatly exhibited between the second and third floor. The rubbery growth beneath the railing is part of her series of petri-dish artistic experiments.
This one managed to escape its plastic confines and found a home on the
cold steel from the bottom to the top step. It lacks the color of some
of the other pieces she's provided, but being able to interact with the art allows an interesting change in perspective.
It's louder up here, on the third floor, than it was in any of the four areas I've been in so far. This is definitely not the hushed museums that I've been
to before. For one, there's booze. Secondly, nobody here seems to think
that their conversation will detract from anyone else's experience.
They are correct. Even though I'm by myself throughout my journey
through Lawndale, I feel like I'm part of a community, instead of a solitary viewer.
As I cross the threshold into Vicious Venues, more than anything else, I'm hit by the smell. I'm transported back to my grandparents' house in Connecticut. Even more specific than that, I'm in their basement. The musty scent of the 50's is all around me, invasive.
A quick glance around at the furniture set up in the room offers no
help in snapping me out of me day-dream. Everything laid out is of the
same era that my brain insists I'm residing in now. Vultures, made of lego-sized blocks, roam throughout the room. They are everywhere, wreaking havoc on the surroundings. They're in the vents, on top of desks, pulling a volume of Frankenstein from the bookcase and, worst of all, two have destroyed an antique typewriter and hover over their new kill like, well, vultures. I pause for a moment to eulogize the contraption that I revere.
The chaos of Shawn Smith's exhibit is behind me as I exit through the door with my sights set on descending downstairs for the final leg of my artistic tour de force.
I take the elevator back down to the first floor and start walking
around a room with equal-sized pictures of steel-framed lighting
structures. Not knowing what I'm viewing, I grab a pamphlet and start
reading. This is Andy Mattern's inclusion in the opening; a set of photographs of an obsolete Austin lighting system bought in 1895 from the city of Detroit.
My rounds taking in Mattern's work lead me back to the gallery into
which I entered. Finally, I take in Monica Vidal's work in all it's
fluorescent-lit glory. The aforementioned tent is the obvious centerpiece
of the exhibit. It stands proud, rectangular panels sewn together and
draped over a circular frame. It seems to grow out from the center, a feather-shape in the middle that extends out in in larger concentric variations in different colors. I have to ask Afrodet
what the inspiration for the piece is. Apparently, Vidal was inspired
by a tumor that she had to have removed. The intentions of this are
clear as I make the association between the base of the tent and the tendrils extending from a tumor
into its prey. I think back to my own surgery of a few years back. I'm
still not sure if I've found any inspiration from that experience other
than resolving never to enter a hospital again.
There are other, smaller pieces along the walls, but none really
have the glory, or luster, of the tent. They look more like preliminary
studies of what the masterpiece would end up as than anything else,
though the recurring theme is a person dressed in a outfit covered in
colorful scales. It's now blatantly obvious who the artist is, as Vidal has taken this theme and brought it to life.
She's standing near me as I walk back to the bar for a final draught of
St. Arnold's, dressed in the same scaled outfit. I still might not have a total grasp of the intentions of art, but I now realize that art and life are one in the same. Maybe it took the costume to realize that, but I think I knew it all along.
HINTS and TIPS
- The current exhibits will be available for viewing through January 9th, 2010
- Hypnopomp Opened on December 2nd
- Lawndale's Parking Lot is BEHIND the building, not where I mistakenly parked.
- Bring your camera. I could have taken pictures if I hadn't thought there were "museum-type" rules.
- Lawndale Art Center is on Flickr and you can get a good idea of the exhibits and other performances they have there by checking it out regularly.
- Don't smoke cigarettes with the homeless man that comes inside for a free cup of wine. He might ask you to "get crunk" with him in your car for a price. I'm reserving the rest of this story for a more adequate forum-- Maybe a "Inside the Loop, Outside Reality" series.
- Next exhibit opening will be January 22nd, 2010 (everyone deserves a little advance notice).
Where 4912 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002 (View Map) What Art, Everywhere, Even on the Stair Wear Follow the Artist's Lead and Think Outside the Box How Much Free (plus free drinks on opening night) When Mon-Fri: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, Sat: 12:00 am - 5:00 pm WebWebsite; Facebook; Twitter; Flickr; Blogger
Lawndale's last exhibition of the year opens Friday
By Caroline Gallay
November 19, 2009 at 3:50 AM
My first trip to Lawndale Art Center gave me fond flashbacks of helping
my best friend install her gargantuan, organic, usually beige creations
during her days at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
I was a prep school kid, and I loved holding up pieces of her hanging
conch shells while she maniacally drilled in ceiling supports.
Lawndale has recently launched a lunchtime program for media and
friends to come and chat with the artists a few days before an opening,
when the gallery is especially alive and hectic.
Houstonian Monica Vidal was in the midst of constructing an
enormous, multicolored tent reminiscent of Dr. Seuss illustrations. It
will be totally closed off by opening night, but I got to duck inside
of her colorful creation. She's making a matching suit out of small
felt circles, and had enlisted a patient volunteer to help finish
sewing the pants. Once completed, I imagine she'll look something like
an exuberant Foghorn Leghorn - without the cockscomb.
Upstairs Kia Neill had a ways to go on her Grotto. She's
creating a hallway encroached upon by artificial stalagmites made of
chicken wire and paper mache and lit from within by Christmas lights,
which reflect off small geometric growths she assembled from broken
CDs. With much of the ceiling and walls still uncovered, I'm nervous
for her. If she get's it finished, two-way traffic through the piece
will be tricky. But she's determined; the deafening peal of a drill
later interrupted our quiet lunch. "Kia's here," Exhibitions and
Programming Director Dennis Nance explained matter-of-factly.
My favorite installation was indisputably Vicious Venue by
Austin-based artist Shawn Smith. Smith is a successful commercial
artist, which speaks to Lawndale's value as an explorative space. "It's
not just for whacked out young artists," noted Nance.
With the help of his wife, Smith transformed an upstairs project
space into a 1950s-era detective's office, complete with a glass of
scotch, bulletin boards papered with suspects and a coffee mug
emblazoned with red lipstick. Life-sized vultures made of tiny,
individually dyed squares of wood rip apart the office. Smith made the
vultures appear pixilated, questioning our distant understanding of
nature, and has positioned them feeding on archaic technologies like
typewriters, rotary phones and reels of film.
The attention to detail is what's truly remarkable; even a stack of
sugar cubes is constructed to echo the pixilation of the birds.
The exhibit opens Friday and will be on view until January 9, 2010.
It's nature vs. outdated technology in "Vicious Venue,"
in which artist Shawn Smith sics pixilated vulture sculptures on a
1940s-era office. "[They're] eating the obsolete technology, like the
typewriter and the rotary phone," says Smith. By putting these
creatures in an outdated setting, the artist is commenting on outgoing
and incoming gadgetry. "That's how I arrived back at the obsolete
technology being eaten by the current technology," says Smith. Oh, and
if you're interested in the exhibit's title - a "venue" is not only a
place but a group of vultures. See the 21st century get its just
deserts at an opening reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. November 20.
Regular viewing hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays,
and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Through January 9. Lawndale Art Center,
4912 Main. For information, call 713-528-5858 or visit
www.lawndaleartcenter.org. Free.
Vicious Venue | Shawn Smith
November 20, 2009 - January 9, 2010
Opening Reception Friday, November 20, 2009 - 6:30-8:30pm
Lawndale Art Center - Project Space
"Vulture" (2007)
Plywood, ink, and acrylic paint
44 x 33 x 27 inches
Shawn Smith's work explores the depiction of nature through digital
technology and comments on the effects of technology on our perception
of the world. Smith's recent work explores his interest in birds of
prey as a source of conceptual inspiration and analogy. Smith is
fascinated by vultures and the visceral way most people react to them.
For his exhibition in the Project Space, Smith asks the question, "What
would a digital vulture eat if it was somehow trapped inside this
reality?" Vicious Venue
is a sculptural installation consisting of a group of life-size
pixelated vultures devouring an analog office full of obsolete
technologies (like a typewriter, rolodex, and a rotary phone). The
viewer becomes an intruder into the space, as if they are stumbling
into the middle of the ongoing carnage as the vultures pick the
office's carcass clean. Smith's current work highlights the collision
of the digital world and the real world by creating pixilated
sculptures interacting with found objects. For his installation in the
Project Space, Smith pushes the scale and scope of his current work by
creating an installation that creates a narrative and brings these
objects to life. The title of the exhibition, Vicious Venue, refers to the double meaning of "venue" as both a place, and a group of vultures.
Shawn Smith "RGB Ibex, 2009" 40" x 26" x 20" balsa wood, ink
Photo: Courtesy Craighead-Green Gallery
Two
weekends ago, my wife and I wrapped our two-year-old daughter Savannah
in a Winnie the Pooh raincoat and hit the pavement for the Annual Fall
Gallery Walk. Our challenge: to see how long we can entertain Savannah
while not allowing her to deface any art work or become a performance
piece herself. Because of these constraints, her taste ends up
dictating ours; the more she likes something, the longer we are allowed
to remain and look. She is our guiding critic. We were pleasantly
surprised by what Savannah ended up liking. Maybe all of the museum
visits are rubbing off on her.
The critic at work (Savannah in the rain)
Photo: Teresa Rafidi
We started our
expedition at Craighead-Green Gallery with Shawn Smith's Lego-rific
pixilated plywood sculptures. The playfulness of idea and material
translate even to a two-year-old. She remained here happily for over 45
minutes (amazing) while we waited on friends and visited with the
artist. While I found Shawn's discussion of our evolution from an
analog world to a digital one and the social implications fascinating,
the concept was unnecessary for Savannah. She was won over by the
prominent use of the color red -- her favorite -- in several of the fire
pieces.
Her experience at the Howard Sherman show at Pan American, however,
was not as pleasant. She lasted about ten minutes -- if that long --
before demanding to leave, preferring to stand in the rain. While there
are many things that I enjoyed about Sherman's work as far as color and
surface, I was not permitted a deeper inspection and will have to
return sans Savannah.
At this point, for Savannah's sake as well as our own, it is time
to edit our trip. If we can only attempt two more galleries without
Savannah completely melting down, which do we choose? Well, we wanted
to see the results of Marty Walker's great slim down, and I remember
liking Sarah William's paintings from the summer show. She is a recent
University of North Texas grad and is displaying remarkable talent and
painting maturity right out of grad school. The soft glowing greens and
reds paired with luscious Baroque darks did not impress Savannah,
though. Again, my time inside was brief. The large crowd in such a
tight space was too much for her, and I only had a quick walk through
before allowing her to splash in puddles outside and repeatedly climb
the entrance stairway. I'm disappointed by the new, even smaller space
that Marty Walker now has to work with, but it is better that she have
a small space rather than no space at all.
Sarah Williams, Marcelione Trailers, 2008, oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches
Photo: Courtesy Marty Walker Gallery
From there we headed
to Conduit. I had previewed this show Friday night and had hopes that
Savannah would find Jill Foley's installation as fascinating and fun as
I did. At this point in the evening Savannah is pretty much done, her
pants are soaked from splashing in water, she's hungry and it's getting
close to bedtime. Yet upon walking into "The Mountain," Savannah found
a second wind. There were so many things for her to explore and at last
she didn't have to remain at a respectable distance from the art.
Savannah described it as "neat". She also kept returning to the "pet"
in the cardboard box by the desk, the one in dire need of a dental
attention. She was intrigued by the attached teeth and kept asking "what's that?" Lacking a true explanation, all I could tell her was
that it was a little monster, which only aroused her curiosity more.
She also wanted to climb on the smaller mountain structure of cardboard
that lies in front of the primary installation -- the one that looks
remarkably like a playground climbing apparatus. She became frustrated
when prohibited from conquering it. At which point we realized it was
time to get her home, dry her off, warm her up, and put her to bed.
I was proud of my daughter for being patient with us while we
looked at art and schmoozed with friends. She was a real trooper and
seemed to enjoy many parts of the evening. I was also proud of our
galleries. They worked to dispel a few myths about themselves. One
myth: that they do not support young, unproven local artists. Marty
Walker and Conduit both exhibited fresh MFA grads from our local
programs. Sarah Williams from UNT and Jill Foley recently completed her
degree at Southern Methodist University. This was a great opportunity
for them to shine and showcase the talent that lies in the Metroplex.
Now if we can only find a way to keep them from going to New York. I
was also very impressed by the Conduit Gallery for showing such an
ambitious site-specific installation. It was challenging work for a
commercial gallery to exhibit and something rarely seen down here
outside of the non-profit spaces, especially by an artist currently
without national recognition. This was great to see and renews some
faith for me in our local galleries. Let's just hope they can keep it
up.
Shawn Smith, Re-kindling, 2009, plywood, ink, acrylic paint, 72" x 46" x 46", Craighead Green Gallery
Okay, I admit
I did not get too far on Gallery Night. I did manage to visit about half
a dozen Design District galleries. Of that, two artists stood out:
Shawn Smith at Craighead Green Gallery and Jill Foley at Conduit Gallery.
Smith makes
whimsical constructions from balsa wood and ink. Depending on one's
generation, they are either reminiscent of elementary math rods or animated
pixels. They are masterfully constructed into moving objects, such as
flames, birds and even body parts. Equally exciting are the intricate
collages, with impossibly tiny bits of paper seemingly dissolving across the
paper. While staying within the canon of traditional sculpture and
collage, the work is unique and very much of its time.
Jill Foley's
installation, The Mountain, is divine. Taking
up a large part of the back gallery at Conduit, Foley has created a multi-room
cave fashioned from cardboard. It is fully furnished, with a faux bear
skin rug warming up the floor in one room. It is illuminated by lamps and
chandeliers and its womb-like warmth is completely alluring. It is the
sort of place I would enjoy moving into for awhile. There is a schedule
of events at its entrance. And, in fact, Conduit has been running a
series of poetry slams and other programs throughout the run of the
exhibition. What a perfect venue.
There is about
one week left in the run of both exhibitions. They are not to be
missed.
Craighead Green Gallery is pleased to present a
three person exhibition featuring:
Shawn Smith Ursula O'Farrell Arturo Mallmann
September 12 - October 10, 2009
Opening Reception in Conjunction with Dada's Fall Gallery Walk, Saturday,
September 12th, 5:00 - 8:00 PM
Shawn Smith "RGB Ibex" 41" x 28" x 17" balsa wood,
ink
Shawn Smith is a Dallas native and Texas resident. With
this new body of work, Smith is once again bringing his sense of humor to the
gallery. Smith's works are a mass of pieces of wood cut into smaller pieces and
assembled into recognizable objects of all configurations. Smith states that
"these pixilated works are an investigation of the slippery intersection
between the digital world and reality. My conceptual and material practice
explores identity, color, labor, technology, and science." Shawn received
his Master of Fine Arts, Sculpture from California
College of the Arts and his BFA from Washington University.
Ursula O'Farrell "Young
Painter " 48" x 48" oil on
canvas
Ursula O'Farrell is a newcomer to Craighead
Green Gallery and the Dallas
art scene. A West coast resident, O'Farrell has a rich background in abstract
figurative painting. Her formal studies began with a bachelor's degree in
painting from LoyolaMarymount University
in Los Angeles.
During her junior year she studied in Italy
through Gonzaga University
in Florence.
Upon Graduation Ursula received the prestigious Eugene Escalier Foreign Study
Scholarship for independent study focused on German and Austrian Expressionism.
Later she received a master's degree in painting from San Jose State
University. O'Farrell is
presenting rich and colorful abstract figurative paintings. The heavy painterly
style is a product of her independent and formal studies.
Arturo Mallmann "The
Archaic Revival (archaicman)" 36" x
72" acrylic on canvas
Arturo Mallmann is presenting his third body of
work at Craighead Green Gallery. The technique of applying acrylic paint
between layers of resin is unmistakably recognized as a product of Mallmann.
Born in Uruguay and living
most of his life in Buenos Aires,
his subject matter is a collection of memories from his childhood. The ocean,
huge sky and stark landscape on the shores captivate the viewer of his
paintings. Although very serious and contemplative, upon closer examination
Mallmann's sense of humor is seen. A small dog, bicycle riders and kite flyers
are discreetly hidden in the paintings. Mallmann's goal is to move the viewer
as far away as possible from their common everyday environment, falling into
his world of childhood memories.
Please contact the gallery for more images and
information, if needed. Join us for the opening Saturday, September
12th at 5:00pm. The work will be ready for preview Wednesday,
September 9th and will be on display through October 10, 2009.
Shawn Smith's "Particle Board Universe" (2009)
18.25 x 18.25 inches
Colored pencil, conte, marker, and pencil on paper
It's about the hand. And the line (curvy or straight). And about an artist making a mark that is distinctive and unique.
Each generation of artists wrestles with its own particular creative
concerns. Among the trends of the last half-decade or so has been a
re-emergence of the art of drawing and a re-embrace of the
sensibilities that drawing demands and projects: directness, intimacy,
individuality and an immediate sense of the artist's hand at work.
In art-speak it's called 'mark making' - the essential act of an artist producing the most elemental of artistic identifiers.
Right now, you can make an afternoon of art-going around Austin galleries and museums by following the art of drawing.
At D Berman Gallery, 'Drawn (Not Quartered)' features six Texas
artists who pursue the art of drawing in different ways and mediums.
Katie Maratta makes black-and-white one-inch-tall Texas panoramic
landscapes in miniature detail. Jareid Theis builds delicate, ethereal
layers by floating ink drawings that are on transparent vellum on top
of sheet music. And the right-handed W. Tucker taps into his inner
child by using his left hand to create very rudimentary cartoons on
scraps board or discarded book covers. Drawing with his nondominant
hand, Tucker says, 'rescues me from over-thinking the work.' Tucker's
approach underscores a familiar refrain heard from artists who are
delving into the new art of drawing: In our overloaded information age,
it's easy to lose track of what's hand-made or what's made viscerally.
Fascinated by the fuzzy intersection between the digital world and
reality, Shawn Smith typically makes rather whimsical sculptures from
tiny cubes of wood that are tactical, three-dimensional versions of
pixelated images - 're-things' is what Smith calls his sculpture.
'I see (the resurgence of an interest in drawing) not as a full
rejection, but as the opposite starting point from digital media,'
Smith says. 'Drawing has "thingness" to it that's very important.
There's a directness and immediacy to its physicality. I can put my
hands on it.'
Gallery owner Lora Reynolds has organized a group exhibit at her
eponymous downtown art space to open in July that focuses on the ways
artists assert their artistic identities through drawing and mark
making. And Reynolds offers it as a respite from multimedia art.
'Drawing, as a medium, has always been one of my major interests in
contemporary art and it feels like a welcomed contrast to the
multimedia direction of much of the art made now,' Reynolds says. 'The
immediacy and intimacy of drawing is interesting to me as is the way
drawing slows down your looking.'
Slowness, yes, and there's a certain honesty to drawing. too. It is,
after all, something created by the fundamental act of an artist's hand
and thus the antithesis of the digital smoke-and-mirrors of multimedia
art. Then again, a part of today's resurgence in the art of drawing can
be attributed to today's younger artists who were brought up consuming
animated video of all sorts, particularly video games.
So perhaps the path to understanding today's resurgence of drawing isn't a straight line. More likely it's an expressive one.
EXHIBIT: drawn (not quartered)
ARTISTS: Glenn Downing, Katie Maratta, Shawn Smith, Jared Theis,
W. Tucker, & Randy Twaddle
DATES: 4 June - 18 July 2009
OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, 4 June, 6 - 8 pm
d berman gallery is pleased to present
six Texas artists examining and portraying different forms of drawing. This
exhibit will contain quite a range of drawings, including raw, energetic works
by Glenn Downing; one inch tall Texas horizonscapes by Katie
Maratta; Shawn Smith's approach to drawings
from a sculptor's perspective; Jared Theis' delicately
rendered pen and ink on vellum pieces; W. Tucker's intuitive
and subconsciously directed works; and Randy Twaddle's
watercolor and gouache "reversal drawings".
Glenn Downing says of
his work: "I am interested in creating a collage of life with memorable
imagery evoking range of emotions. I strive to keep a raw quality and a sense
of humor in the finished work. In recent years, I have been more and more influenced
by jazz and its spontaneity. I am not a musician, so my works are my visual
tunes combining materials and images like notes. High ideals are expressed in
crude lines and found objects, likewise crudeness is expressed in fine inks
and pastels."
Katie Maratta says: "What
I like about these pieces: they should feel cramped and crowded, but they manage
to convey a surprising sense of space. They should be corny because they include
elements such as windmills and cows and pumpjacks, but in this small scale the
cliche becomes fresh again. They allow me to play with the notion of
beginning, middle, and end in new ways. They are, in fact, a Basic Geometry
lesson with the verticality of the viewer complementing the line, squares, and
basic shapes of the horizon and the pictorial elements strung along it. They
are powerful without being intimidating. They are satisfying to do and satisfying
to look at. They share a quality with Chinese porcelain of the complete world
that one can hold in one's hand."
Shawn Smith's sculptural
works of the last several years (such as his piece in Austin Museum of Art's
New Art in Austin: 20 To Watch) have been composed of small blocks of wood to
create "pixilated" three dimensional pieces. So, it was only natural
that in approaching the idea of a two dimensional drawing, Smith starting cutting
up full images into tiny pixel pieces of paper to use for collaging his drawings.
Jared Theis, who is an
accomplished musician in addition to being a visual artist, ties the two arts
together in his Sheet Music Drawings. He says of the series: "The Sheet
Music Drawings evolved from my recent study of chamber music and a substantial
interest in microscopy. The ethereal forms in these ink on vellum drawings float
weightlessly across pages of sheet music and call to mind microorganisms, cellular
activity, and continental drift. The musical scores I've chosen for these drawings
are works I've studied, performed and loved deeply throughout my life."
W. Tucker says his surfaces
are "unplanned. Line drawings, markings, painted strokes and scribbles
are made with oil, lumber stick, resin stick, charcoal, graphite and ink. I
create these drawings/markings predominantly with my non-dominant hand. The
use of my left hand allows me to draw in an unpracticed manner, and often rescues
me from over-thinking the work. I am not conscious of representing a
specific story or idea as I work. The exact meaning of a piece in many instances
eludes me. In the end, I am more often struck by an emotional response to what
I paint and draw."
Randy Twaddle is continuing
his series of "reversal drawings". In the new work, in which the
format is more vertically pronounced, the banner on which the phrases are contained
is more contorted and less "elegant" than in previous work, rendering
the reversed phrases as less legible than before.
