Review / Informed Opinions

 

December Issue 1998

 

Art on Paper at the Weatherspoon: Variety Within the Parameter

Greensboro, NC

A Review

by Amy Funderburk

 

For thirty-four years, the Weatherspoon Art Gallery on the campus of UNC - Greensboro and Dillard Paper Company (now xpedex) have collaborated to present Art on Paper, a survey of the diverse ways contemporary artists use paper as an artistic medium. While the overall look of the show is very contemporary and cutting edge, diversity prevails in approaches as well as subject matter. The over 90 works in Art on Paper are the result of three methods of selection not readily apparent to the viewer. Twenty-seven works by North Carolina artists were selected by juror Laura Hoptmann, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Drawing at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The other two are invitational components, and include UNCG art faculty in addition to emerging, nationally known and internationally known artists. North Carolina artists are included in this latter section as well.

 

Paper has often been used as a surface for preliminary sketches. While a few pieces here are identified by title as sketches, most are designed as works in their own right. There are many large scale works here. Not all are presented in the traditional matted and framed manner; some are hung with bulldog clips or push pins. Paper is often paired with unexpected media in addition to paint and charcoal. Unusual materials to be found include sequins sewn to paper and fans to blow on them in Kathleen Kucha's 84" x 60" Sequins, a dollar bill origami accompanied by five cibachrome photographs and a shelf in Money for Art by Lee Mingwei, and Dutch shoes, rubber, and gelatin print in the three dimensional Pioneer by Chakaia Booker.

 

The range of style is wide, from folk or outsider art to the more traditional landscape, portrait, or abstract. Even the representatives from these categories are more often than not given an expressive, contemporary twist. Several artists utilize devices such as humor, symbolism, or text to convey their messages. The so-called lines between the local and the national blur, for there is no consistent or distinct difference in approach or quality between NC artists' works and those by artists from elsewhere.

 

The work titled only by its presumed date of completion, 5.2.97, is a graphite on paper piece by Mark Sheinkman. A 108" long, 14" wide scroll is mounted with pushpins hidden from view within the two rolled ends. Wide, dark diagonal lines are frequently broken by blended vertical streaks in a lighter value. The work is stark, yet appealing. John Maggio's Horse Garden is a 59 1/4" x 52" work done in paint and conte crayon on paper. On brown paper that still peeks through, Maggio uses the conte to cover the surface with the contours of stacked, blocky shapes of similar size. Thin white paint creates some greys just as it picks up the conte. The eye keeps moving as it seeks to find the horses within the forest of abstract shapes. The title of the work and their recognizability give these horse shapes just a little emphasis over their neighbors.

 

Margie Stewart's two charcoal on paper pieces, Bowl of Fruit I and Bowl of Fruit II may sound more traditional by title, but both works feature energetic blended swashes and strong aggressive lines. These lines, as well as a wide value range and excellent breakup of the square format, keep active movement in both works. Portrait of a Turkish Man Drawing by Juan Munoz, oil stick on paper, is a strong, beautiful work that conveys much through understatement. The top two-thirds of the 25 1/2" x 20" vertical format is the white paper. In a portion of the lower third is the subject's mouth, chin and shadow from underneath the nose. The powerful drawing utilizes an excellent range of values from the darkest black of the media to the white of the paper. With so much paper left as crisp white, paired with the choice of facial features included, to me this work speaks of silence.

 

A lycanthropic work is Homo Canine, a charcoal on paper by Rebecca Drouhard. The intriguing 34 1/2" x 48 1/2" horizontal work depicts a side view of a dog either walking or holding up one paw, rendered in simple lines and values. Closer examination soon reveals that overlain in more delicate lines and lighter values is a woman crawling or resting on her knees and hands. Both bones and muscle contours are visible and shared by the subjects. I could not help speculating on the intent of the imagery. The work could speak of shapeshifting; it may be a metaphor for the artist's view on the societal condition of womankind, or could be in some way emotionally autobiographical. Just when one is considering the questions the work poses, another surprise comes to view. A more naturalistically rendered, front view eye rests at the tail bone, as if to further challenge the viewer to arrive at some conclusion of deeper meaning.

 

Certainly not all works in the show are black and white. Two powerful pieces with albeit subtle use of color are Death Be Not Proud, Death Be Not, acrylic and graphite on watercolor paper, and Death's Head Bird Mask, acrylic on cardboard, both by Faye Foster. The former may very well have been some sort of study for the mask, if not designed as a series or companion piece. Both depict the same stylized bird head, which I took to be a raven due to its multicultural associations with death. Death Be Not Proud, Death Be Not is created with thin layers of paint over simple graphite lines, with the title of the work written down and up the two sides of the beak. One red eye lends interest and emphasis within the otherwise pale blue and tan composition. The angular, shamanistic mask is a modern totem. It has a white front, black sides, subtle red and yellow around the eyes, and a little red where the black and white meet. This primal sort of color scheme is quite effective, helping the artist to strike the desired chord within the viewer.

 

Molly Lithgo uses soft blues and browns in her colored pencil on paper Storm Front. With its small format of 15" x 22", the work is intimate and subtle, yet dramatic. The vertical rectangle is mostly sky, with sea in the lower portion. There is a little purple where the sea meets the sky, lending a complexity to the earthy color scheme. A break in the clouds creates an emphasis area through the contrast of light. Textures are created with small, delicate cross hatching strokes, with more obvious diagonal strokes in some places to create further interest within the surface quality.

 

Another three dimensional work is Fritz Janschka's Ouroboros Mirabilis, with text by Fred Chappell, created from laminated paper, gesso, watercolor and pencil on paper. The 6" x 48" strip is formed in the sign of the infinity symbol and suspended within the gallery. Lovely shadows are cast on the floor, underscoring the shape's definition. Delicate drawings with soft watercolors and lettering are featured on both sides of the surface in an illustrative style. The infinity shape keeps the eye moving from one figure and shape to the next. These figures include the ouroboros snake which gives the work its name.

 

While closer inspection reveals a wide variety within the show Art on Paper, the selections do work together as a cohesive whole. A wide range of distinctions exist within the seemingly narrow parameter of one surface. The viewer will perhaps leave thinking a bit differently about what can be done with paper. Currently on view, the show will run through January 10, 1999.

 

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call the gallery at 336-334-5770.

 

Amy Funderburk is an artist, teacher, writer, art critic and exhibitions coordinator living in Winston-Salem, NC. She is also a Board Member of Associated Artists of Winston-Salem.

 

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