Victoria Dalkey: Artists face themselves at Elliott Fouts
Published: Friday, Jan. 18, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 26TICKET
"Face Yourself" at the Elliott Fouts Gallery is a show of self-portraits
by artists who are not, for the most part, known for their figurative
work. The result is a show that ranges from a straightforward,
traditional self- portrait by Bryan Mark Taylor to a psychologically
fraught painting by John Tarahteeff, who depicts himself as a sailor in a
beached boat with a broken mast.
Both are finely done and offer insights into the characters of the
artists. Taylor's tender color and tactile paint handling give us a
glimpse into the soul of an artist who is a sensitive colorist.
Tarahteeff's symbolic painting suggests that he is a melancholy and
self-dramatizing storyteller.
Between these two extremes are some marvelous and surprising works.
Jennifer Balkan gives us a piquant and painterly self-portrait as an
angel with a crown of roses. This image, which is reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell (whose works are up at the Crocker), jumps off the wall with joie de vivre.
Ryoko Tajiri abstracts her image with angular planes that in some
senses efface her visage, but nevertheless offer a subtle and intriguing
painting. John Karl Claes gives us a moody gestural image in sombre yet
rich tones and Kenney Mencher challenges us with a dashing self-portrait
in a Lone Ranger mask.
Some of the artists present only portions of their faces or figures.
Randy Brennan's "I'm Complicated" takes the form of a floral painting of
vines and a vase that has sliding panels that open to reveal a mouth
and an eye. James Crandall focuses on his hands intertwined and moving
apart in a beautifully drawn image. Jelaine Faunce reduces herself to an
Angelina Jolie-like pair of plump lips.
Others let images or objects stand in for themselves. Maren Conrad
fancies herself a sexy mermaid who ought to hang in the Dive Bar. Terry
Pappas depicts herself as a Buddhist goddess with a bird. Teresa N.
Fischer also holds a bird, a wind-up toy, to her ear, listening intently
to its silent song.
The most compelling work in the show is Gale Hart's image of a girl
with an ax confronting a panel with a relief line drawing of the same
figure. Both girls have one foot that belongs to a pony rather than a
human, and the overall feeling is one of menace and anger. Hart, whose
works often address animal rights, offers an emotive and ambiguous statement of human culpability here.
All in all it's an enjoyable and thought-provoking exhibit, as is "The Collector: John Turner and the Art of Acquisition" across the street from Fouts at the Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento. This delightful exhibition showcases objects from one man's collection of ethnographic, folk and outsider art.
Turner, an inveterate traveler who moved with his family to Vietnam
and Taiwan when he was a teenager, began his career as a film editor in New York City before moving to the Bay Area in
the 1970s, where he worked as a television news editor, arts producer,
writer and curator. Over the past 35 years, he has visited more than 70
countries, finding odd objects such as a coconut carved into an image
of Fidel Castro.
A haunter of thrift stores, he
has acquired a marvelous selection of paintings, including a visionary
image of Moses with the burning bush, an image of Elvis combing his hair
in a mirror and a dark painting of two sullen young girls who seem to
float on air. A medical sign from Mali depicts a dictionary of ailments
from bad eyesight to flatulence.
A high point of the exhibit are several works by the renowned outsider
artist the Rev. Howard Finster, including a childlike rendition of
Turner emerging from the Amazon River and a wonderful, etched sheet
metal wall sculpture titled "Queen Heneretta Wife of Charles I." These
are mind-boggling, strange and enchanting works.
Note: If you are a fan of traditional watercolor painting, you should
check out the American Watercolor Society's traveling exhibition from
New York. It's up at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center, 5330 Gibbons
Drive, Carmichael, through Jan. 26. For information, call (916)
971-3723.
FACE YOURSELF
Where: Elliott Fouts Gallery, 1831 P St., Sacramento
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday through Jan. 31
Cost: Free
Information: (916) 736-1429; www.efgallery.com
No comments:
Post a Comment