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Art Review: Dual show a study in contrasts |
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If opposites attract, visitors should be attracted by the pleasurable polarity between the solid pots of Matt Seikel and the fanciful paintings of Denise Duong in a show at JRB Art at the Elms.
Seikel, who shares a resident studio space with Duong in Oklahoma City, said his hand-thrown as well as hand-built and coiled vessels incorporate "Greek proportions … with a Japanese focus on process.”
Two groups of 12 and eight small, blue and white porcelain flasks, decorated with loose, semi-abstract, Japanese brush marks by Seikel, have an appealing delicacy and nicety of feeling. A bit more monumental and sculptural are a number of his black-and-white, light stoneware vessels, while several dark stoneware containers have richer hues and less regular shapes.
A student at the Art Institute of Chicago (as was Seikel), Duong layers her mixed-media compositions with paper, fabric, paint and "nostalgically sentimental” references to art nouveau and decorative art. Born in January, Duong pokes fun at the god "Janus” in her painting of two female soldiers marching in opposite directions, with rifles on their shoulders, high boots and uniform jackets over frilly skirts.
No less playful is her painting of the "War Entertainer,” standing at a microphone, singing to fox hunters and cowboys, charging each other in a Southwest landscape as paratroopers drop from above. A "Dedicated” woman, wearing a scanty red dress, rides her bicycle, with a goose in its basket, toward a golden tree, oblivious to the biplanes and World War II fighters in the sky, in her work of that title.
Equally whimsical is a work by Duong in which "The Pie Man Sings Tonight” to his lady fair on stilts in front of a city skyline, while his dog and her goose listen to the serenade. In another witty painting by Duong, a flapper-like female doesn’t need a camera to "Point and Shoot” her golden bow and arrow at a droll cartoonlike character holding a fish in his arms.
Other offbeat works by Duong include an image of three balloonists floating over a map of the Great Lakes, and a depiction of a couple embracing at a soda fountain with pictures of armed men in the background. A study in contrasts, the two-person show is recommended viewing.
— John Brandenburg
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© Joy Reed Belt 2010
All prices subject to change without notice - not responsible for errors. Availability, price and shipping charges can be confirmed by e-mail or phone prior to purchase. |
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