If one really counts a picture or a piece of artwork as a thousand words, then Zenith Gallery's latest exhibition calls, pleads, deplores, whispers, yells, lectures and mumbles - and all in one breath.
A collection of works from nine artists, the show titled "Into the Minds of Nine" exemplifies the spirit of the word "eclectic." But while an initial impression may teeter between diverse and jumbled, remember those childhood idioms about first impressions and look again and again - and again. It won't be regretted.
With works ranging from sculpture to still life and abstract to furniture, most of this exhibit's success is owed to tasteful arrangement and flow. Grouped only partially by artist and largely by aesthetics, the colors and subsequent moods subtly shift with a walk around the room. From blue to yellow and red to green the colors trace a circle around the gallery.
Most importantly, the art itself is wonderful. With 14 pieces showcased throughout the gallery, the sculptures of Paul Martin Wolff first invite close inspection. Fluid forms and high contrast mark both the mirrored bronzes and stainless steel, covered in minutely detailed patinas resembling granite or marble. Wolff, an AU trustee, did his pieces in stone before having the form cast in metal by the Art Research Lab in Pennsylvania.
"The absence of space is as interesting to me as the space," Wolff said.
And indeed, his explanations of his artwork revolve around words such as "form" and "negative space." Words that find expression in the cutout holes of pieces such as the jade-hued "Rhino," which stands almost six feet high, and the matched, swooping spires of his stainless steel "Arches." Besides, who can resist appreciation for both solidly executed sculpture and school solidarity?
Also a three dimensional work, the tables of Margery E. Goldberg are the furniture that provides a talking point during social gatherings. Adorned with baseballs and baseball diamonds and supported by Louisville Sluggers, these tables are pure Americana. Better still, the Nationals bats on her "At Bat" table play up a timely celebration for D.C.'s new team. However, the simplicity and functionality of the two tables on exhibit make them seem to belong at a high-quality craft fair rather than a gallery showing. Not detracting from the show's cohesion, they nonetheless seem out of place among the paintings and sculpture.
Moving onto art involving frames, the natural chronometric progression draws the eye to the far wall and the abstract pieces of Joan Konkel. Created of plastic mesh screens and acrylic on canvas, the black and blue rectangles skillfully portray depth and the movement of light on an otherwise two-dimensional plane. Not to mention that any piece cleverly titled "Romulus and Remus" shows great knowledge and a sense of humor in portraying these legendary founders in the dark colors with which legend has similarly painted them.
Framed next to Konkel's work, the mixed media and oil paintings of Renee DuRocher similarly evoke a sense of history and time. A stylized woman with a small head and voluptuous figure squats by Ming-era porcelain and gazes into the faces of Xi'an and his terra-cotta army, straight from the pages of National Geographic. A combination of bold color and inventive mixed media coalesce in a series of pictures easy to enjoy and rich with meaning and nostalgia.
Playing on nostalgia, Ellen Sinel depicts the beaches and landscapes of her beloved Cape Cod. Complete with Adirondack chairs, her collection focuses largely on the use and effects of light. Light draws Sinel back to her subject, saying she "love[s] the light in Cape Cod", which "people compare to the light in Provence." And indeed, the golden tones found her landscapes evoke such Provencal oils as those of impressionist Paul Cezanne.
Working in actual French light, the oil Parisian cityscapes of Bradley Stevens appeal to the traditional art lover. His two impressionistic pieces in Zenith Gallery capture the grandeur and bustle of Paris. Especially good, his piece "Place du Carrousel" juxtaposes the modernist Louvre pyramid with the Napoleonic Arc du Triomphe du Carrousel, creating a contrast of old and new accentuated by the crowds milling about the triad of arches in the foreground. Slightly blurry, they nonetheless match in proportion the magnificent golden charioteers adorning the old monument.
Departing from the traditional, John Malmstrom's contribution consists largely of still lifes. His works are small watercolors with a single light penetrating a black space and revealing the ordinary and the interesting. Of special note is the perspective of a Superman action figure, strong and proud, on the verge of destruction as the rope around a large metal pulley frays. Ironic? Yes. Amusing? Equally. The piece is from his "100 Days" series, in which each of 100 pieces was painted in one day for 100 consecutive days. This prolific undertaking has been attributed by a gallery representative to how "he lives in Canada ... [and] maybe he gets lonely".
Even lonelier than those solitary still lifes and their artist are the naked mannequins of Cassie Taggart. Yes: naked mannequins laying on beds in '50s style rooms. These humanistic dolls are hooked up to I.V. machines or sprawl in bent, awkward contortions in rooms where the dominant wall hanging is a group of fluffy, white bunnies. Once again, a sense of irony exists but is overwhelmed by the pervading sense of unease. Quite frankly, these works are a bit disturbing. Yet they add a modernist element that rounds out the celebration of art in all its forms and styles at the "Into the Minds of Nine" exhibition.
Finally, the work of Gloria Cesal brings the collection together, just as her layered and loosely formed collages bring together bold color and texture. Resembling landscapes, flowers or even clothing as in "Kimono," her art is created by going "wild with the scissors" and striving "to be very tactile" in creation. But her motto truly exemplifies her art: "I work very instinctually ... it is very sensual."
This innate sensuality and aesthetic bring together Zenith Gallery's newest exhibition. One could attempt to create a deeply symbolic meaning dealing with the manipulation of time and form at the hands of the artists, but why bother? In the end it is instinctually, aesthetically and eclectically good art. Very, very good art.
