August Issue 1999
Take Time to Discover the Subtleties Within
the Charlotte Halpert Biennial
Catherine Smith Gallery, Appalachian State University, Boone,
NC
A Review
by Amy Funderburk
When you enter the Catherine Smith Gallery on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, you are first greeted by the rotating exhibit From the Collection of... featuring weekly installations of works from patrons' collections. To the right is a small grouping of work called Charlotte Halpert: A Celebration by the late artist and patron. A show of sculptures is clustered in the center of the gallery called Beyond Brancusi: The Sculpture of John Safer.
The rest of the first and second floors are devoted to The Charlotte Halpert Biennial Juried Show, a national juried show for two-dimensional work. Juror Terrie Sultan accepted 52 works from 398 entries. Sultan is the Curator of Contemporary Art at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC.
One must really spend time with this show to savor the subtle richness of its best pieces. The first thing the viewer might notice is this is the most diverse Halpert yet exhibited. There is a lot of minimalism here, as well as pattern oriented abstract work. The second vein is more reconstructive in nature. These images are comprised of seemingly unrelated elements juxtaposed to create modern graphic icons. Some painterly works are peppered into the show in addition to these two themes. The viewer will also notice more encaustic work than usually seen in juried shows; there is a lot of printmaking as well.
The Wiggily Triptych by Brian Yates, NC, is a lithography and intaglio work. The three small squares are mounted on wood, and feature animals defined through contour on patterned, soft colored backgrounds. The works look like old children's book illustrations However, upon closer examination, there is a more sober undertone to his works. The first panel shows a ladybug talking to a depressed dog dressed as a police officer. The second depicts a somber looking rabbit dressed as a clown, while in the third panel the bunny rests crosslegged with his back to the viewer. The images are simple yet visually satisfying, but also a bit unsettling on a deeper level. In Yates' other accepted piece, Falling Out and Down, intaglio and digital, a clothed, frantic looking rabbit holding a mushroom umbrella enters from the left. Behind the black and white rabbit is a psychedelic background. Large, childlike, puffy blue rain clouds hover against a pink, green, and yellow swirling sky. The color choices and mushroom seem to imply a hallucinatory world beneath the veneer of a child's picture book.
Humor abounds in Dillybobbers, an intaglio by Anastasia Marosis, LA. Wooden figures reminiscent of artist's maquettes with Pinoccio noses and wearing dunce caps march to the left. The row of wooden marchers is divided into sections by thin straight vertical lines. The continuity of the figures is broken at the seams, creating the illusion of animation on the static 2-D surface. A thick black line with white dots inside borders both the top and bottom of the row. As a result, the image looks like a film or negative strip. A map-like design of dashes, dots, and shapes is behind the filmstrip.
Among the paintings included in the Halpert is Tim, Dan, Kelly, a painterly figurative oil on board by Maura Danko, PA. Three figures surround a table, lending their attention to an unseen figure or event beyond the picture plane to our left. The application of the relatively thin layers of paint is reminiscent of some of Pierre Bonnard's work, but with softer, more naturalistic colors. Additionally, the placement of a woman in the extreme right foreground is like one of Bonnard's compositions. Contour lines are left showing throughout the painting; some objects on the table are only defined by lines and washes of color. Three bands of color create the simple background.
A painterly oil on paper by Laura Young, IA, is Last Exit. The small daubs of rich, warm yellow browns and occasional bit of orange create a rich texture. A neutralized light blue sky peeks through in the upper left.
A more stark landscape is created by Leslie Snipes, GA, in Hotel, Athens, GA, a charcoal on gessoed paper. The large, thought-provoking piece is suggestive of work by Edward Hopper. The top two-thirds of the composition is a vast space filled with blended, subtle cross hatch marks. The emphasis is a crisply drawn building in the foreground. A larger, subtle, ghostly building is behind the first. Power lines help to create depth and movement. All the visual elements, including a point of view below the horizon, combine to make the viewer feel small within the vacant landscape.
John King, NY, gives nothing away through the title of his mysterious work, Untitled, encaustic, graphite, and wood. The small, almost square work is black and dark gray, working to a lighter gray in the lower right. Three intriguing pod shapes sit silently within the darkness. The wax of the encaustic medium is like a veil between the viewer and the subject, lending further allure to the piece.
An egg tempera and encaustic work is the five panelled Spittle by Carol Prusa, IA. Each of the panels is about 24" x 34", and appears quite minimal from a distance. However, closer inspection reveals an intricacy resulting from the delicately handled media. The first panel is predominantly a soft orange-cream color field. Ellipses form near the bottom, and a small, meticulously executed, cream colored round knotwork design floats in the lower right. The second panel is black, gray, and white with implied texture; a flower shape forms via radiating lines just above the center. The third panel is red-violet, the color neutralizing at the top. A rose-pink tendril hangs down from the top, ending in a curled green and violet, red veined leaf about to unfurl. The most minimal panel is the fourth one. The black surface fades at the bottom to a darker gray. This allows a little contrast against the shallow black arch that forms just at the bottom edge. The fifth panel is like delicate lace. Upon close inspection, the rose, soft light yellow-green, and cream color field reveals a large lacy pattern that looks like a subtle mandala. Layered colors can be seen along the panel's edge, giving a clue to the artist's process. These surfaces that seem so minimal from a distance reward the diligent viewer with organic, richly executed forms.
Ropes and Ribbons by Constance Wells, IL, is an oil and gold leaf on wood. The relatively small image has a classic visual appeal but makes a contemporary statement through a limited number of clues. A turquoise ribbon is entwined around an orderly, twisting vine at the top of the work. The main character is a circus acrobat with a performer's smile on her face. She hangs partially upside down with her head held high, and holds a rope that does not quite attach anywhere. At the bottom of the composition where she would fall is a dark mound of turtle and mollusk shells. The background is cream colored with gold leaf. The surprise of the work comes when one discovers the head of a chameleon just entering the viewer's upper right in the otherwise symmetrical composition. Since the chameleon is an animal of camouflage, it makes the discovery all the more delightful.
Visitors to the Charlotte Halpert Biennial should take a first look around for the initial impact of the works, then spend more time with each piece. The viewers will then be rewarded with many images that in various ways and to varying degrees search for meaning behind the surface.
Amy Funderburk is an artist, teacher, writer, art critic and exhibitions coordinator living in Winston-Salem, NC. She is also a former Board Member of Associated Artists of Winston-Salem.
Editor's Note:
The Charlotte Halpert Biennial and Beyond Brancusi:
The Sculpture of John Safer will be on view at the Catherine
Smith Gallery through Sept. 3, 1999.
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
Subscriptions are available for $18 a year.
Carolina Arts
is published monthly by Shoestring
Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2000 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston
Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts
from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts
Online, Copyright© 2000 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved
by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use
without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina
Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.