“All Art +: The Orchard” Exhibition
Van Der Plas Gallery
This event has ended.
Continuing in our new tradition the Van Der Plas Gallery presents the latest All Art + show. The All Art + exhibitions are visual art, or course, but this past Sunday’s reading by the poetic group The Unbearables put us in a rebellious literary mood. For those who don’t know us yet, All Art + functions as an opportunity for underrepresented artists to show their work alongside that of local scenesters. Each show is curated differently; each develops its own identity as the work comes together. In homage to the poets that come through our doors, this one combines a touch of surrealism with a little rhythm, some repetition, and a gentle jab of a thumb in your eye.
This brace of artwork is so packed with energy it pops right off the walls. Alise Loebelsohn’s paintings are as carefully patched together as the best handmade quilt, but at the same time they look razzy, somewhat electric, and good enough to eat. Think of a kaleidoscope going on a date with a video projector inside Gustav Klimt’s studio. That would be Loebelsohn’s “Floating Paisley,” and you don’t have to go to Austria to see it.
One of the qualities of poetry is its distillation of ideas. It can present an image that is itself and that the same time is something else; Shalom Neuman’s Colin brought us a pastiche of a toy guitar and other found objects transformed into a beguiling face by a pair of strange, luminous disks. It is a monkey! Is it the spirit of innocence come back to liberate us? See for yourself, and find out whether the subject of this assemblage is really you.
Thomas Cox has been swimming around lately, looking at Matisse, or possibly listening to Eydie Gormé. His contribution is a sweet wall piece made up of some very unusual art materials: a hand-stitched pocket, a fake carrot, and a genuine 45 rpm record of “Blame It On The Bossa Nova.” In an allusion to the French master, it has goldfish swimming across it.
Dan Freeman has always been a guilty pleasure. His paintings have a heavy pop component, so much so they’re almost cartoons, and yet the painted surfaces slide across one another so peacefully it’s almost like a painting making love to itself. His “Poison Frog #2,” like any bright animal of the jungle, is concentrated and dangerous. Yet its mouth has a tender twist to it, a mobile shape that recalls the now-beloved monster in the acclaimed romantic movie, “The Shape of Water.”
There are lots of meanings of the term “poem,” but in the end, Gwendolyn Brooks’s definition shines brightest. “Poetry is life distilled,” the great poet once said, and if we could add a definition of painting to her maxim, life would be complete. A true work of art is more than the sum of its parts, and so a poem, a guitar, a frog, a quilt, a bottle rocket, and a roomful of ideas can mean something both less and more than what they appear.
By Sally Eckhoff
Media
Schedule
from March 05, 2018 to March 11, 2018
Opening Reception on 2018-03-07 from 18:00 to 20:00