The exhibition concept, “Shaping Boundaries” is aptly supported by three artists: Andrew W. Martin, Anne Longo, and Shawn Camp. The overall exhibition is visually dynamic. All three artists have delimited space within their artwork, but Martin’s soft flat charcoal surfaces contrast nicely with Longo’s busy textures and glazed planes and Camp’s glossy sculptural reliefs.
In landscape/divide, Martin extracts an image from a featureless background. He shows us the specific area by marking it off with masking tape. This secondary view of the landscape is tacked up with masking tape over the background image. It allows us to see details of the landscape, but it further limits our aspect. Both background and foreground views are bounded by our own limited ability to see beyond the framework that is provided us. The casual application of masking tape to the image implies that the boundaries are ephemeral or lack importance.
We see a landscape of a flat plain with an unbroken horizon line In Frontera #3 by Longo. A road leading to the horizon provides an additional element of perspective. The area above the horizon line can initially be perceived as sky, but slowly, a secondary landscape emerges out of the haze. A highly textured scrawl of veinlike patterns reminiscent of earth covers the entire surface. Close inspection of the substrate reveals that these are the contour lines on maps of New Mexico and Mexico. Longo requires us to look into and under the surface to discover the shifting nature of boundaries.
Camp combines expressionistic and impressionist style with studied linear elements that intersect the surface. He creates the impression of actual terrain with thick acrylic and oil impasto in varying shades of blue, green and brown. The lines appear to be an underlying element from which the surface is pulled away, revealing an order underlying the seemingly random and plastic undulations on the surface. This technique doesn’t jive with his stated concept of humans imposing order out of chaos. However, the inclusion of a 1997 painting by Camp in which he employed the technique of scraping away a built-up surface, as opposed to building areas around background elements, provides some insight. Camp has not reconciled an old concept with his new technique.
Martin and Longo teach at Texas Tech University, and Camp has a studio in Austin. All three hold Masters of Fine Art degrees. The exhibit was curated by Tom Matthews, an art instructor at STC.