Shaping Boundaries-STC Weslaco

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.    

McAllen Arts Council 3rd Annual Exhibition

3rd Annual McAllen Arts Council Fine Art Exhibition in Conjunction with Festiva

The McAllen Arts Council recently held its 3rd Annual Fine Art Exhibition.  The organizers invited secondary school teachers teaching in Hidalgo County to showcase their artistic talent.  

Jessica Monroe, who teaches at Med High, explores scenes from a very close range, creating a somewhat abstract effect.  Surface patterning in each scene, such as the street in her painting Rank, is emphasized, and geometric grids are also integrated into the surface.  The surfaces values on the grid are modulated in such a way that they recede and advance over the entire picture plane to great effect.  The geometric grids counterbalance the fluidity of curvilinear shapes within the scene.  Although you can understand the concept of the artwork by its title, the picture tells the story.  The high ranking bird is established by its placement in the composition, and the contrasting values that allow it to stand out as the primary focal point.   All of the other elements are subordinate to this focal point, and have a corresponding visual weight.  A reduced color palette allows value relationships to stand out.  Monroe is a clear stand-out, because she successfully integrates concept, technique and aesthetic in her artwork.  

Several other artists exhibit effective technical skills.  Isai Mireles sets up an interesting visual tension through the subtle use of complementary colors in his painting of a pair of shoes.  This tension creates an optical effect that appears to animate the shoes--as if they are about to set off walking or dancing.  Isabel Link’s Tres Peras is a textbook example of how to use  line, shape, value, texture and color that is aesthetically pleasing.   Lisa D. Saldivar tames spiraling shapes and a psychedelic color scheme by corralling them within larger shapes in varying sizes, and by allowing areas of rest within the picture frame. Geographic coordinates stand in for perspective lines in Sol, Llios, Naytheet Ah Kin, Qurax, Grian, Surje by Marco Antonio Sanchez.  Oddly juxtaposed imagery of Nordic skiers and ancient icons populate a surreal landscape seemingly inspired by a 70’s rock song.  

The ability to successfully integrate the three fundamental aspects of a work of fine art, concept, technique, and aesthetic, is what makes a “fine” artist.  Artwork that falls short of this can be categorized as a sample, sketch, or study.  Work that is simply decorative, moves it into the realm of commercial art rather than fine art.  Much of the work in this exhibition falls short of a fully realized “fine art exhibition.”  Perhaps MAC should remove the word “fine” from its title.  

Claudia Berenice Garza at STC

The image on the invitation drew me to the exhibition, and once there it met my expectations.  In this image, two monolithic stone cliffs stand alone in the sea. It is a surreal scene because the stone, that has split in half,  is laced together with rope.   This clearly communicates a reference to the body (the lacing is similar to a corset’s lacing), isolation (standing alone), and vulnerability (even something as hard as stone can be fractured).  The lacing is not securely fastened and the bottom end floats in the water where it will quickly unravel. The high contrast of light and dark values in the unnatural color scheme create a mood that suggests that this is a mental landscape.   There is an overall harmony to the work created by the predominantly analogous color palette and the repetition of visual elements.  

Garza states that her new body of work is defined by an expressionistic style and a focus on personal feelings. Unfortunately, the other artworks in this exhibition do not clearly or effectively communicate the artist’s stated intention.  The works lack cohesion stylistically, conceptually, and aesthetically. Garza knows what she wants to do, and she might reach her goal by giving some time to organizing a visual language that is cohesive and developing a technical and aesthetic style that is consistent.   

This exhibition can be seen until December 10, 2010 at STC's Technology Campus Library Art Gallery located at 3700 W. Military Highway at Ware Rd. in Mission.  872-6100

Veronica Jaeger at STC-Weslaco

Three grimacing faces with tongues thrust outward greet visitors to the STC Mid-Valley Campus Library Art Gallery.   It is not an image of women that we are accustomed to seeing. It is unsettling and unique, and that is what intrigues and excites me about Jaeger’s artwork.  Mythology is replete with examples of female threesomes.  Medusa was one of three sisters known as The Gorgons.  They had three more sisters (The Graeae) who guarded their home. They were fearsome and powerful women.  In Jaegers’ powerful image, one woman becomes three, and by extension, every woman.  

Jaeger juxtaposes realistic images with abstract linear elements.  A line drawing of a house floats above the heads of the women.  The drawings seem like an anomaly in the composition, but it is an intentional device calculated to disrupt the viewer’s expectations.  The houses are “bound” with yellow lines.  The concept of being bound informs all of the artwork in this exhibition.  It relates metaphorically to the microcosm of intellectual, cultural, and social ideas that we are all bound by.  

Both drawings and paintings are included in this exhibition.  There is a qualitative difference between the two techniques aesthetically and conceptually.   In the paintings, there is more of a disconnect between the realistic and abstract elements due to the hard edges and unmodulated color in the linear elements.   In the drawing (below),  the woman is nonconfrontational.  She has hidden her own face, but she still sees through her fingers.  Her bindings seem to be a more integral and cohesive element in the picture.  Each artwork is a different aspect of the story that Jaeger is telling.  

Do yourself a favor and go see this show.  It is open through December 10.  You’ll also get the added bonus of seeing Steven C. Ortiz’s artwork.  

Steven C. Ortiz at STC Library in Weslaco

I received a pleasant bonus on my recent trip to STC Library Art Gallery in Weslaco. I discovered five "books" displayed on pedestals by the information desk.  The opened pages of the books reveal handwritten notes, photos and drawings that detail the saga of Robert Scott's attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole.  The story is an unfortunate one, because Scott was beaten to the Pole by 35 days by Norwegian Roald Amundsen.  Their return trip became a nightmare and they died horrible deaths.  They left behind their diaries and journals.   

In Ortiz's pieces, it is as if fragments of the story have been frozen in time like the unfortunate adventurers.  The books have a wonderful rusted patina, but instead of the patina being dull it has a somewhat shiny and translucent quality.  I am reminded of an insect preserved and encapsulated for eternity in amber.  These books however, appear to still be somewhat in the process of disintegration, but they are also hardened and impenetrable.   

STC Library Art Gallery, 400 N. Border, Weslaco, 956-447-6663

The Big Pour at the UTPA Foundry

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this process and hanging out at the foundry.
There is going to be another one on December 4 at 9 a.m. so stop by and enjoy a unique experience.

Angel Berrios-MFA Exhibition At UTPA

I detect discord in Angel Berrios’ artwork.  MFA students are encouraged to step outside their comfort zones so that they can expand their artwork conceptually, technically and aesthetically.   I believe the story begins with the single anachronistic realistic painting of a landscape (Machu Picchu in Peru).   It is an ode to the past and a pointed reference to a previously developed technical skill.  The new works that line the walls are his attempt to transform that past.  The realism of his previous work is buried beneath a veil of abstraction and an unnatural color palette.   Daubs of highly saturated color blot out the details of his figures.  Nostalgic sentiment for the past is evidenced by the narrative scenes, but it is as if they are a lost memory rather than a present experience.   He states in his online artist’s statement that he plans to move more toward abstraction in the future.  Once Berrios works this out intellectually and conceptually, he may make the next critical step in the evolution of his work.  

Finally, I would advise any graduate student to carefully edit their exhibitions.  His sculptures, while they may have some commercial appeal, have not been developed sufficiently to be included in an MFA exhibition.  

The exhibit is open until November 14th at UTPA's Charles and Dorothy Clark Gallery.