Art Map Burlington, April 2007

ART REVIEW

Frank Woods’ Hieroglyphic Echoes

Series XX marks the spot for Frank Woods’ “Hieroglyphic Echoes” found hanging along the patient walls of the Artpath Gallery where one can easily plunge into a world of contagious energy, invigorating exploration, and erratic correspondence with enough art to transform into a channeled vessel.

Enough traveling along the Path will reveal the anticipated existence of those enigmatic visions so characteristic of hieroglyphics. The viewer immediately becomes a necessary ingredient to what could be a delirious architect’s blueprint of a place where Chaos can feel at home.

Woods’ usual work with oils is exceptionally replaced by a mixed media series of enormous, intoxicating, fun, diverse and disordered displays of color, form, and energy contrasted with and composed through patterns that exist only to inspire and intrigue limitless exploration of the mind.

Each piece, appearing to be an unconscious appropriation of the one preceding it, resembles one another, yet manages to maintain singularity. No. 4 (42”x60”, mixed media on paper) echoes off the adjacent No. 2 (42”x60”, mixed media on paper), which echoes off another to eventually create an electrifying tunnel of chaotic entrapment one can only hope to remain lost in. Disarrangement of the senses, and the savvy mind is not only achieved, it is surpassed to absorb the occasional wanderer into humble delusion.

No. 3 (42”x60”, mixed media on paper) is punctuated with pencil traces of dragonflies, sharks and serpentine lines that could be anything from teeth, to mountains, or a saw blade. Spontaneous smudges of grey attract and repel the fluorescent green and yellow pastel mysteries, which abundantly pierce through bits of tape, tinfoil, and addressed envelopes.

The series invites what was once conventional order and creates a bright puzzle of unprecedented adaptation. Giant sheets of white embody the illusion of enlarged graph paper fragments electrocuted by disturbed charcoal lines, interjected sharks, and explosions of red, pink, and black that bleed from pastels. Vertigo is hard to avoid in No. 6 (42”x60”, mixed media on paper) and encouraged by converging perspectives achieved through tangential lines of charcoal.

However, despite all its madness, the series’ Dionysian nature stimulates a sensation of youth. This subtle, innate quality enables “Hieroglyphic Echoes” to attract, inspire and be appreciated not only by adults, but by children as well.

HILLARY ARCHER

Art Map Burlington ARTICLE
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detail CLICK HERE ...to read Lee Freeman’s February 2007 article about Artpath Gallery. Artpath Gallery Wing Building on the Waterfront 1 Steele Street (802) 563-2273		ART REVIEW Frank Woods’ Hieroglyphic Echoes Series XX marks the spot for Frank Woods’ “Hieroglyphic Echoes” found hanging along the patient walls of the Artpath Gallery where one can easily plunge into a world of contagious energy, invigorating exploration, and erratic correspondence with enough art to transform into a channeled vessel. Enough traveling along the Path will reveal the anticipated existence of those enigmatic visions so characteristic of hieroglyphics. The viewer immediately becomes a necessary ingredient to what could be a delirious architect’s blueprint of a place where Chaos can feel at home. Woods’ usual work with oils is exceptionally replaced by a mixed media series of enormous, intoxicating, fun, diverse and disordered displays of color, form, and energy contrasted with and composed through patterns that exist only to inspire and intrigue limitless exploration of the mind. Each piece, appearing to be an unconscious appropriation of the one preceding it, resembles one another, yet manages to maintain singularity. No. 4 (42”x60”, mixed media on paper) echoes off the adjacent No. 2 (42”x60”, mixed media on paper), which echoes off another to eventually create an electrifying tunnel of chaotic entrapment one can only hope to remain lost in. Disarrangement of the senses, and the savvy mind is not only achieved, it is surpassed to absorb the occasional wanderer into humble delusion. No. 3 (42”x60”, mixed media on paper) is punctuated with pencil traces of dragonflies, sharks and serpentine lines that could be anything from teeth, to mountains, or a saw blade. Spontaneous smudges of grey attract and repel the fluorescent green and yellow pastel mysteries, which abundantly pierce through bits of tape, tinfoil, and addressed envelopes. The series invites what was once conventional order and creates a bright puzzle of unprecedented adaptation. Giant sheets of white embody the illusion of enlarged graph paper fragments electrocuted by disturbed charcoal lines, interjected sharks, and explosions of red, pink, and black that bleed from pastels. Vertigo is hard to avoid in No. 6 (42”x60”, mixed media on paper) and encouraged by converging perspectives achieved through tangential lines of charcoal. However, despite all its madness, the series’ Dionysian nature stimulates a sensation of youth. This subtle, innate quality enables “Hieroglyphic Echoes” to attract, inspire and be appreciated not only by adults, but by children as well. HILLARY ARCHER

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