BETTY HAHN'S 1970'S gum bicarbonate prints with stitching:
These fairly small comforting works brought to mind old needlepoint and tinted Victorian photographs as well as the recent rage for certain antique silk embroidered postcards.
These photo image based moss green velvety images convey a sense of nature attractively manipulated and engineered to please humans. They are soft, subtle, forms with a hint of Eden's tranquility. The brightly colored stitching adds some visual spice, an element of homespun handicraft and enhancing texture. These works are something one would be delighted to uncover inside an old and dusty turtle top attic trunk.
ANDY WARHOL'S 1982 screen prints of daisies:
How dare I presume to critique the works of an artist as famous as Andy? I don't know much about Mr. Warhola. With all due respect my first, uneducated impression of his works in general is one of decorative childlike frivolity. It would be good to know if Andy was familiar with the historical symbolism of the flowers he created here or if he was being completely spontaneous.
One wonders, if much of Warhol's mass-produced, quickly produced work, like that of many prominent 20th century artists, especially the so called "abstract expressionists" could have risen to prominence based on its own merit without having been calculatedly packaged, promoted, and marketed by the New York art gallery mafiosos. I am regrettably prejudiced in favor of masters like DaVinci, Rafael, Michelangelo, Cole, Giotto, Audubon, El Bosco, Heade, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Picasso and Dali.
These large screen prints of quality technical production strike me as something Catherine the Great would not, were she alive today, buy for her Hermitage. Nevertheless it is wonderful that these vivid, monetarily valuable, luminescent works of a world famous artist are here in Santa Fe for us to experience. Each piece contains a large pastel colored childlike scribble of a daisy like flower imposed over a similar but much crisper and well defined frontal floraform resembling a colorized photo. Bold and playful it seems be a reflection of the frolicking fun popular culture of the 1950's, '60's and '70's more than a product of the serious economic concerns of the early 1980's.
I feel challenged, ungrateful, jaded, rude and someone puzzled as to why I cannot seem to appreciate nor understand why Warhol's works have become so famous and valuable. Perhaps his art, like his Jackie O. subject, is an icon of a time when much artwork was lighthearted, somewhat funky, slick and unpretentious. Perhaps he had an instinct for placing his finger on and visually representing the pulse of his epoch. ...or it might simply boil down to the fact that some folks just like apple pie while others prefer cherry pie which is no qualification of either.
ERIKA WANENMACHER'S "Stealth Painting (The Bombing of Baghdad)", 1999 oil on panel:
A rather large, direct and ominous piece which reaches out with three dimensional trumpeting red, orange, and rust toned shasta daisies which defiantly thrive and emerge from a ghostly X-Files/War of the Worlds spooky night background. These multi fingered, sharp-edged and vigorous hand like blooms seem almost to be needfully reaching out as they endeavor to pull the viewer into their catastrophe. The indigo sky above the black landscape is haunted by glowing luminescent fire-fly amoebic blob explosions harkening back to the eerie sky of Van Gogh's swirling Starry Night.
The unwavering defiant sculpted daisies seemingly impale this piece and it's tragic world to the wall as they sprout through it from behind pronouncing their indestructable, enduring immunity to violence and evil; they shout an oath of benevolent life forever resilient in the face of suffocating annhilation.
TIM JAG'S "Group vs. Individual", 2007, mixed media on panel:
Bright colors and vibrating razor cut floral forms grab the viewer's attention in this large, textured psychological work of fused strongly contrasted equal sized halves. The left half is comprised of a complex net of inter and overlapping brightly colored geometrically perfect windmill like florets. Behind this botanical shield looms a large, ominously monstrous, dark asteroid like sphere made up of heavy blackish brown dead looking blossoms representing death. The metaphor herein is that of organized group strength protecting against a deadly threat.
The right half is a field of fiery yellow with a single island like flower [the individual] alone in a sea of blinding solar furnace sunshine which undulates with concentric circular faint ripples as if to indicate the lone individual's cries of isolation and vulnerability. This is a strong and thoughtful metaphoric piece of which prints should be produced for sale to enrich the interiors of spiritual, educational, and holistic or psychologist-related homes and offices.
JONATHAN SELIGER'S "Politely", 2000, lithograph:
Contained inside a small automobile interior size space enclosed with windows on a waist high stage stand several equally volumed, neatly arranged classic grocery store open brown paper bags, mouths open, and standing at attention like a group of hungry soldiers. Each bag is neatly imprinted with the words "Thank You." This gesture could be interpreted in many different ways. One suspects if this is not a comment on capitalism and corporate consumer indoctrination it must represent a straightforward expression of gratefulness to shoppers and store owners who contribute to protecting animal life and preserving our environment by choosing recycled, biodegradeable paper over plastic--an often unwelcome pros vs cons choice decision which has presented a profound conundrum to many harried "Americans" for the past two decades.
D. JEAN JAWRUNNER'S "Zen Centurions", 2007, aluminum.
An installation in the center of one gallery being a small group of tallish horizontal four sided approx. 4 x 4 pillars shaped like an architect's model for a campus of modern-early post modernist high rise office towers. These attractively oxidized blunt totems are distinguished by their thick metallic skin of roughish brocaded vaguely astor blossommish fungal hide. The Centurion towers initially took me to images of World Trade Center aerial views before it was bombed.
The wonderfully rich and elegant surface texture of these pieces suggests the intricate Rococo craftsmanship of mid 19th century Kirk and Tiffany sterling.
I could not restrain myself from a laugh when a mannishly dressed middle aged woman walked up to one of the towers and proceeded to bang on it with her hard fist while demanding in a New York taxi driver accent: "Wazzit made ov?" She was promptly advised both firmly and tactfully by a guard to cease her tire-kicking behavior. She quickly moved off unruffled as if disappointed that she had not brought a sledgehammer or drill with her.
YUMI JANAIRO ROTH'S "LIVINGWARE", 2001, vitreous china:
The first things that come to mind when one spies this archipelago of thickish cloverleafed horticultural chunks scattered in a wavy circular arrangement and wide swath from floor to ceiling across one wall is refrigerator magnets, guacamole [ especially if you're a hungry gringo] and those textured rubber flower shaped compact-disc sized adhesive no skid pads that people install inside bathtubs. Yumi's colors and surfaces also reminded of my grandmother's avocado colored refrigerator from the 1970's.
Moments later this display populated my head with similar images recalled from vintage mugs and casserole dishes manufactured with the now iconic "American" names Glassbake, Pyrex, Corningware, and Fire King.
Mindful of the apparent heavy weight and size of these gathered pieces some over cautious viewers dared not approach too closely in case of the unlikely event of a twenty pound component suddenly deserting its high perch.
The custom manufacture of these pieces undoubtedly required a lot of very hard physical work; they appear far less manpower intensive than they undoubtedly are. Kudos to Yumi for mustering the physical strength and tender packing precautions to transport and successfully direct the installation of potentailly unwieldy yet fragile "Livingware."
PHOTO: " Santa Fe Dragon Perch", peter gumaer ogden, chromogenic c-print, from 35 mm negative, copyright 2007.
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