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January-March 2016
Review Carolyn King, Neda Contreras, Michael Contreras at Contreras Gallery Reviewed by Chris Zerendow |
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Contreras Gallery on 6th Street is showing the work of three artists: Michael Contreras, Neda Contreras, and Carolyn King from January 9th through January 30th. All three artists work with motifs familiar to the southwest and southern Arizona in particular.
Four works by Michael Contreras, two new and two from the late 60’s, hang in the gallery with his wife Neda’s paintings. The two new pieces, one drawing and one painting are exquisite. The ink drawing, All Souls Procession, depicts an idealized moment from the final parade of All Souls Weekend, a major cultural event in Tucson centered around the Mexican tradition of Día de los Muertos. Here, grief and loss are equal celebrants to joy and love. Michael’s drawing utilizes the skeletal paradigm established by Jose Posada. The skeletal forms of angels, pets, friends and family engage in a macabre and haunting procession with blackbirds and puppets amid local Tucson landmarks. As much as the drawing honors the dead, it is also a depiction of season, the coming of winter.
Four works by Michael Contreras, two new and two from the late 60’s, hang in the gallery with his wife Neda’s paintings. The two new pieces, one drawing and one painting are exquisite. The ink drawing, All Souls Procession, depicts an idealized moment from the final parade of All Souls Weekend, a major cultural event in Tucson centered around the Mexican tradition of Día de los Muertos. Here, grief and loss are equal celebrants to joy and love. Michael’s drawing utilizes the skeletal paradigm established by Jose Posada. The skeletal forms of angels, pets, friends and family engage in a macabre and haunting procession with blackbirds and puppets amid local Tucson landmarks. As much as the drawing honors the dead, it is also a depiction of season, the coming of winter.
M.Contreras_All Souls Procession_
M.Contreras_Raven Sunrise_
His painting, Raven Sunrise, is reminiscent of the mystical visionary landscapes of the 19th century American painter, Ralph Albert Blakelock. A gnarled glistening valley, painted in rich impasto, drenched in a golden-scumbled early morning light, slowly gives way to the sunrise and two hungry dancing ravens in the distance.
The visual texture of the painting is rich and absorbs the viewer. The figure in the foreground, the triadic relationship of parts and the apparent symbolism all point toward an awakening hopefulness, or at the very least an understanding of the cyclical nature of life. Don’t miss his two early pieces from the late 60’s. The Race is exciting.
The visual texture of the painting is rich and absorbs the viewer. The figure in the foreground, the triadic relationship of parts and the apparent symbolism all point toward an awakening hopefulness, or at the very least an understanding of the cyclical nature of life. Don’t miss his two early pieces from the late 60’s. The Race is exciting.
N.Contreras_The Red Apple_
Neda Contreras’ s paintings are beautifully and traditionally-crafted pieces. She embraces an interesting balance between traditional European craftsmanship, folk Spanish colonialism, Mexican Surrealism and all of it tossed with a touch of humor. There are four still life paintings, The Red Apple, Puffins, Toucan Bleeding Hearts with Love Birds, all painted in the same style: deep blues, hard horizon, individualized objects with some kind of living creature: chicken, puffin, toucan, parrot. These pieces remind me of Ancient Roman still lives, the ‘emblema’ and floor mosaics of Pompeii. There’s a kind of scientific examination of the objects—most of the objects are isolated with very little overlap, but placed in a narrative relationship to one another. For the Romans, the objects depicted in still life were symbols of hospitality, the changing seasons and a celebration of life. Something similar is at play in Ms Contreras’s paintings. She takes the idea of play even further. For example in The Red Apple, the gourds seem to dance around the chickens, who in turn dance around the acorns, who dance around the apple. It’s difficult to tell if there are many objects of the same kind or one object moving through space. There’s a cosmic dance unfolding, satellites of farm-yard objects.
C.King_Homage to Christina_
There is a generous sampling of Carolyn King’s work in the west side of the gallery. She works in mixed media, mostly acrylic with collaged elements built into the different densities of various mediums. The work varies in size from an intimate scale (8x10”) to a largish medium scale (4’x3’). Ms King is concerned with gender identity and the female body. She utilizes patterning, repetition of forms and colors that are reminiscent of the early MesoAmericans. I don’t sense that Ms King is attempting to hide the female form in the patterning by way of defense from the masculine gaze, but rather she uses the form to the show the inner necessity and spirit of the individual regardless of external viewers. I was most drawn to her two collage pieces, Eye on the Past and Eye on the Future. They’re made in the vein of traditional Icons of Retablos. But here the figure of Mary isn’t a weeping supplicant but a defiant form standing in front of the open window. The photographic figure wears a mask, protecting the identity of the individual. In The Past, both eyes are behind the visual blockade of the mask. In The Future one eye looks past the mask out into the space of the viewer. I take the mask to represent the present, often that which is unknown. Ms King is suggesting there is room to expand into the future. In the Nada Muerta series, there’s a celebration of the individual. She’s not dead. She dances. She’s not object. She is her experience of the world.
The Contreras Gallery is an interesting small family run space. Neda paints in the back office/studio while Michael finishes silver-work jewelry in a tight corner. Paintings by both husband and wife hang in the back room. They are amazingly friendly and will talk about any object on the walls. It’s a fun visit. For more info on the gallery please check out: http://www.contrerashousefineart.com/
Chris Zerendow is a painter/drawer living in Tucson. He can be reached at czerendow@gmail.com
Chris Zerendow is a painter/drawer living in Tucson. He can be reached at czerendow@gmail.com