ART CONSUMPTION
Our Art Wish List
I want, I want, I want....Tis the refrain of the season and here at Art Map Burlington headquarters, it’s no different. For this issue, we decided to go art shopping to build a wish list of what we would like to find under the tree or next to the Menorah this gift-giving season. We hope it will inspire you to see out your own art offering.
36x36, acrylic on canvas
I saw Highland dancers at a Scottish heritage festival recently, leaping over swords crossed on the floor, which made quite an impression. But my ancestry isn’t the only thing that drew me to Mott’s painting. I love it as much for the vibrant red curtains, the figures somehow imbued with life although they have no facial features, the earnestness of one young girl’s kilt, and the joint between black beam and pure white ceiling. Mott’s paintings were on display at Viva Espresso a while ago, where their warmth first caught my eye. (phebemott.com)
38x38, abraded metal panel
I was familiar with BRM Designs as creator of fantastical space-age tableware (i.e. rocket-shaped pepper mills, a creamer the Jetsons might have used), but Bruce MacDonald’s wall sculpture is something entirely novel. One might imagine sheets of metal to make for minimal, spare, even cold art, but MacDonald’s work is intricate, kinetic, and mutable depending on the type of light. The sculptures are are a dimensional experience, seeming to depict atomic and cosmic happenings. It’s a feat to transform metal into a work of art that resembles a painting. Each is completely unique. As the artist puts it, “the art is in the dance of light… the sculpture is its depth.” (brmdesign.com)
oil-on-canvas
H. Keith Wagner is on a roll. His sculptural interpretation of the geologic forces that created the Lake Champlain basin-the slate and steam installation at the ECHO Center-has recently been published in a new international book on public landscape art. Earlier this year, his firm won Burlington City Art’s design competition to create a gateway along Main Street. On top of that, he’s a fantastic painter. His “Boxcar Series” are rough and minimal, elegantly designed paintings, and we want one. Particularly Boxcar #3, a messy field of white and off-whites is grounded with a red stripe along the bottom. “A3” stenciled in the field, off center and to the left, makes the piece feel like it’s passing by you on the rails to somewhere. Check out his work at the Maltex Building.
14”x14”, giclee print on velvia, edition of 25
An encounter with a copy of the Houston Yellow Pages she found on a Texas street became the inspiration for Cara Barer’s Book Series of photographs. She hunts for old and obsolete tomes, soaks them in a bathtub, and sculpts them into elaborate displays which she photographs on black background. Flayed with frayed edges, the pages of the book curl and warp off their spine in an empty void. Her photographs are a sort of Gunther von Hagens for books, and for that, she’s on my wish list. Check Barer’s work out at Pine Street Art Works.
18x24, acrylic on canvas
I first encountered Greg Mamczak’s arresting work in a shoe store last summer, and thus the sandal display was completely ignored. His untitled acrylic paintings of piled-up animals combine palatable colors and cartoonish beasts with disturbing, morbid excess. In several, simple white fishing boats perch on the horizon, neatly collecting (or discarding?) the ocean’s bounty. Roiling, dense waves of fish spill over the rail, deadeyed and clumped in pastel masses, caught in invisible nets. There’s just something about the way Mamczak depicts quantity. Perfect for an ironic holiday gift at the most excessive time of the year. (www.gregmamczak.com)
mixed media
Steve Campbell grew up in New Jersey, was the child of artists, and did a lot of drugs. These are qualities that both repel and attract me. His paintings combine elements of abstraction, drawing, and assemblage. He’s like Vermont’s own Rauschenburg. Alaska at Artpath Gallery is the one I want. The name of the state is written as if in blue chalk across the top. The letters hang above a mountain landscape, under which is the remaining two-thirds of the painting: a mix of vignettes stitched together. A graphite drawing of a moose stands on spiral notebook paper. A fragment of a blown-up Canadian five dollar note emerges from the paint, as does red and white stripes of an American flag. “BE” is written in neon pink with a hot green outline.
“Lamentations Group” by Judith Brown
scrap metal & auromobile steel sculpture
This one’s a long shot for a wish list… many years ago, I walked from my brick shoebox dorm across the green, with legions of fellow freshmen, on my way to class. Near the Fleming Museum, five figures made of welded scrap metal accompanied us through the trees. Eerie, ethereal and resolute, the late Judith Brown’s “Lamentations Group” was inspired by Martha Graham’s choreography. The artist had wanted the piece to be endowed to a public institution for people to enjoy. Several years ago, the quintet was moved temporarily to the underbuilding of FLYNNDOG. They were rusting, despite conservation efforts, and are now being stored, awaiting restoration. Here’s hoping they find a permanent home. (www.judithbrown.com)
Art Map Burlington is a publication of Kasini House, Inc. info@kasinihouse.com
Copyright © 2007 Kasini House. All Rights Reserved