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December 2016
Review Erasures and Reconstructions at Conrad Wilde Gallery Tucson Reviewed by C.J. Shane |
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Encaustic artwork is especially compelling because it calls out not only to be seen, but also to be touched and to be breathed in, to be admired. That beeswax that is fundamental to encaustic demands a connection to nature that is less obvious in other mediums. We are lucky in Tucson to have an art gallery that specializes in encaustic artwork, Conrad Wilde Gallery. The current exhibit at the gallery, Erasures and Reconstructions (available through January 14), has some terrific works in this not-so-commonly-seen medium. And yet this exhibit is more than encaustic. There are additional non-encaustic art works that add to the erasures and reconstructions theme.
Monica Zavala Durazo
Let’s start with the “more.” Margaret Suchland is a versatile artist who paints in oil and encaustic. She also creates artist’s books. Suchland shares with us a collection of collages in small frames arranged on the wall in an inviting conformation. We are drawn in to take a closer look at the originality in each work as she erases what was, and reconstructs the elements into new works that are beautifully presented in Suchland’s “vintage” wooden frames.
Patricia Sannit has created some intriguing “reclaimed” clay pieces that are very reminiscent of an archaeological discovery. It is as if we have found artifacts from an erased culture that the artist has reconstructed for us. She calls her piece Burial. Are we looking at her reconstructions of ancient entombments?
Perhaps the most striking “more” in this exhibit is Monica Zavala Durazo’s Migrants and Refugees, a large collection of handmade orb-like structures dramatically arranged on three walls of the gallery. These orb structures which the artist calls “pods” are formed of recycled paper sewing patterns. Fiber artist Durazo’s title is intriguing, especially in light of the on-going national and international controversy surrounding waves of migrants and refugees currently moving across the face of the earth. It is a documented, but not well-known fact, that environmental conditions have often precipitated these migrations. The conflict in Syria, for example, was created by a number of factors, chief among them a severe drought (2006-2009) that many scientists think was caused by climate change. This drought drove many rural Syrians off their land to become dislocated migrants and refugees, and eventually, violence grew from the social disruption that ensued. (1)
Patricia Sannit has created some intriguing “reclaimed” clay pieces that are very reminiscent of an archaeological discovery. It is as if we have found artifacts from an erased culture that the artist has reconstructed for us. She calls her piece Burial. Are we looking at her reconstructions of ancient entombments?
Perhaps the most striking “more” in this exhibit is Monica Zavala Durazo’s Migrants and Refugees, a large collection of handmade orb-like structures dramatically arranged on three walls of the gallery. These orb structures which the artist calls “pods” are formed of recycled paper sewing patterns. Fiber artist Durazo’s title is intriguing, especially in light of the on-going national and international controversy surrounding waves of migrants and refugees currently moving across the face of the earth. It is a documented, but not well-known fact, that environmental conditions have often precipitated these migrations. The conflict in Syria, for example, was created by a number of factors, chief among them a severe drought (2006-2009) that many scientists think was caused by climate change. This drought drove many rural Syrians off their land to become dislocated migrants and refugees, and eventually, violence grew from the social disruption that ensued. (1)
Miles Conrad
Because there is so much suffering associated with these migrations, we first see Durazo’s orbs as sad, driven and lost in the wind. And yet there is a hopefulness about this work when one looks deeper. Migrants and refugees are, in a sense, pods full of metaphorical seeds blown in the wind to germinate and take root in a new land and a new environment. They bring new DNA, new versatility, and new vigor to the place where they land. They are survivors, and walls will not stop them.
Unlike Durazo who has created natural elements from human-made materials (those paper sewing patterns), Miles Conrad uses his encaustic medium to capture extracted elements directly from nature which he appropriately calls his Extractions series. We recognize some from our local environment – those spines from our native cacti. Others are suggestive of materials extracted from the natural world but not so easily identifiable They are subtle and lovely and remind us of what we may lose if we are not more mindful.
Some of the pieces in the exhibition are abstract and minimalist, among them work by Elizabeth Harris, Sue Stover, and Alison Golder. Rebecca Crowell has created a moody worked titled Mayo #8 that is reminiscent of her abstracted landscapes based upon her travels.
Unlike Durazo who has created natural elements from human-made materials (those paper sewing patterns), Miles Conrad uses his encaustic medium to capture extracted elements directly from nature which he appropriately calls his Extractions series. We recognize some from our local environment – those spines from our native cacti. Others are suggestive of materials extracted from the natural world but not so easily identifiable They are subtle and lovely and remind us of what we may lose if we are not more mindful.
Some of the pieces in the exhibition are abstract and minimalist, among them work by Elizabeth Harris, Sue Stover, and Alison Golder. Rebecca Crowell has created a moody worked titled Mayo #8 that is reminiscent of her abstracted landscapes based upon her travels.
David Hazlett
One of the more intriguing works is David Clark’s Ancient Histories 162 and 197, both encaustic monotypes on Sakamoto paper (a type of kozo paper). They are large scale, the imagery geometric in conformation, and subtle in color and form.
A work titled Bingo #90 by David Hazlett seems to have nothing to do with the game by that name. Perhaps because so many pieces in this exhibit have direct or indirect references to the natural world, we can’t help but think of seed pods again, flying away in the wind. His Chair, yes, looks like the outline of a chair upon learning the title of the work. But at first viewing, this large-scale encaustic painting looks to be so much more. It’s a view of a map into another world crisscrossed by roadways that take us to unknown places.
Learn more about this exhibit at: Conrad Wilde Gallery
(1) New York Times
A work titled Bingo #90 by David Hazlett seems to have nothing to do with the game by that name. Perhaps because so many pieces in this exhibit have direct or indirect references to the natural world, we can’t help but think of seed pods again, flying away in the wind. His Chair, yes, looks like the outline of a chair upon learning the title of the work. But at first viewing, this large-scale encaustic painting looks to be so much more. It’s a view of a map into another world crisscrossed by roadways that take us to unknown places.
Learn more about this exhibit at: Conrad Wilde Gallery
(1) New York Times