■VISUAL ARTS
Four Artists
Continued from cover
glyphic associations in the surface
patterns. These elements add to the
overall sense of mystery.
In one of the train pieces, “Natalie’s
Bell Train,” the handprint of the ar
tist's daughter serves as a central focus
to pull together with the overall form
and decoration successfully blending
several of Thiel’s concepts. Actually
Thiel’s work is alive and multi-dimen
sional beyond any self conscious con
cepts. All of these pieces have some
primitive form, as well as earthly and
ritualistic sensibilities. Combine that
with Thiel’s instinct for a humorous
modernism and sly stylishness, and
you find some truly tasty stuff.
There is enough going on in these
sculptures that the viewer can find any
one of a hundred ways to get into this
artist's mind. Thiel respects his
viewer in these interactive works. It's
nice when the artists give us some
space to create a little something for
ourselves.
Barbara Elam Dimock
In the platform gallery, prints by
Barbara Elam Dimock are being
shown. Multiple plate etchings and
monoprints depict complex interior
scenes. Elam Dimock's surfaces of
carpet, wood floor, minor glass, bro
cade, floral wallpaper, and not-whol
ly-revealed figures are intimate
beyond voyeurism. We become a part
of these sumptuously described rooms
where beds, clothing, dark hallways,
and common spaces take on a thick
air of human habitat.
Elam Dimock is a master. Print
making is difficult. For some artists
the sheer physical and mental dis
cipline required for the production of
good prints can be an anchor in a
world of rapidly changing artistic
fashions and standards. In this virtuo
sic work the viewer finds reference to
earlier times. In “Pierre Was Here”
a bathing woman calls forth the
French painters of Bonnard’s era. The
inward focus, the obsession with light
and the coloristic tendencies of the
impressionists are present in the
work. For Elam Dimock to translate
that influence into this essentially con
temporary and personal scene reveals
her hard won connection to those
earlier masters as well as her libera
tion from them. One essential differ
ence is Elam Dimock's concern with
a psychological realm, with the
human presence, and the evocation of
the private loneliness inherent in her
interiors.
Each of Elam Dimock's pieces
seems like a good novel, to be read
and relished. In “Boudoir” something
complex is happening between rooms,
between unseen people. The viewer
can simply enjoy this print for its
composition, and for the play of light
and dark spaces, for the reverberat
ing colors. On the other hand one can
read the whole story. Either way,
Elam Dimock provides a rare ex
perience. This is the kind of work that
doesn't get old. A print like one of
these keeps on saying something year
after year. Elam Dimock’s work is go
ing to age very well. This is some of
the finest printmaking to be seen any
where.
Maude Kerns Art Center is located
at 1910 E. 15th Ave. Hours are 10-5
Monday through Saturday, and 1-5 on
Sundays.
Tim 1987 is by photographer Fred Byrum.
poppl/
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At the New Zone:
Portland Comes to Eugene
The New Zone Gallery will host
Portland Comes to Eugene, an exhi
bition curated by Portland’s Northwest
Artists Workshop (NWAW). This
Portland gallery recently celebrated
its tenth year of providing Oregon
with experimental and performance
art.
The New Zone Gallery is show
casing 16 NWAW artists working in
performance, painting, installation,
sculpture, mixed media and photog
raphy, August 15-September 12.
Allen Barrett will present his 25
minute performance “Micro Process”
during the opening reception Satur
day, August 15 at 8 pm. This piece has
as its subject artificial intelligence and
the disturbing reality of art technology
and the use of computers.
Four artists will construct small
room-sized installations designed
specifically for the New Zone Gal
lery. Alice Mahler will paint and con
struct her site-work utilizing the wall
surface as her canvas—and link her
painted image with monofilament to
a bed of peat moss and crushed glass
randomly positioned on the gallery
floor. Linda Spring will transform a
gallery corner into a thought provok
ing array of hanging chains and rub
ber tubing suggesting phallic and sex
ual imagery.
Christine Clark, Nanda D’Agnos
tino, Robyn Pokorny, Anne Seward,
Tyrrell Sweetman and Roberta Wong
construct or paint surfaces utilizing
found objects, ceramics or fiber. Nan
da D’Agnostino’s two pieces are part
of a larger installation “In the Mouth
of the Wolf’ recently exhibited at the
Yellowstone Art Center in Billings,
Montana. Her wall-works focus on
the idea of cultural signifiers, mor
tality, sexuality and the human con
dition.
Lawrence Rodman hpes to suggest,
through his landscape paintings on
saw blades, the real situation of the
regional artist and the history of the
actual blades. Tyrrell Sweetman com
bines sticks, rose petals, gold leaf,
ginko leaves, paint and wire to create
his unique hat-shaped sculpture.
Artists Gary Boswell, Robert
Bruno, John Clark, Larry Rodman,
Teresa Taniyasu and John Weber use
two-dimensional surfaces in painting,
collage and photography. Gary Bos
well’s paintings and drawings are
multi-stylistic, figurative and abstract.
Robert Bruno and John Clark col
laborate in their multi-image paintings
which portray the irreverent, twisted
minds of red-blooded Americans.
John Weber’s conceptual black-and
white photographs question social and
political issues in combination with
written narratives.
The New Zone Gallery is located
at 411 High Street and the free public
reception for the artists will be held
at 7:30 pm on Saturday, August 15.
The exhibition may be viewed during
regular gallery hours, 11 am-4 pm,
August 15-September 12.
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