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 Fiedorek + Schlinke / d berman gallery presents another accomplished show juxtaposing the work of Sandra Fiedorek and Naomi Schlinke. The work of these two artists looks beautiful together in a formal sense, repeating organic circular shapes set within the rectilinear (Schlinke) versus square (Fiedorek) formats. Their work is equally challenging and difficult to decipher. Fortunately for the viewer, the similarities end there. Sandra Fiedorek is known for her site-specific installations, such as the one at the Austin Bergstrom Airport's Central Passage Hall (above baggage claim). It is titled To Parts Unknown (1995-1999), and was commissioned by Austin's Art In Public Places. Known for using unusual materials derived from technology, construction and commercial fabrication, Fiedorek's media may be accessible, but her work is not often immediately recognizable. The works currently on view at d berman are made of Corian, a plastic used in making countertops. They are elegantly installed on the south side of the space, each the exact same size, seven mounted horizontally on one wall, seven lined up on another. At first they bring to mind the minimalist cubes of Donald Judd with a twist. They have laser-etched abstractions on their surfaces, that when lit from behind resemble moonscapes at various stages. Challenging our ready interpretations once again, the artist calls them portraits. Fiedorek received a BFA from Rice University, Houston and an MFA from Columbia University, New York. She was awarded an NEA Mid-America Arts Alliance fellowship in 1992. She lives and works in Austin. Naomi Schlinke's works on paper contain visual references to her own interests. Combining a variety of media such as charcoal, corrugated cardboard, paint and photography, she incorporates decisions about space, dimension, texture and line, creating very personal, symbolic and mysterious imagery. Many of the works in this exhibition are divided into two or three planes. For example in Antique Episode I (2003), vertical cardboard and red painted planes border a central one where orbs suspend above floating top-like forms, one of which is a cutout image depicting a swan. The circular cutout images of swans and ballerinas in Schlinke's work are actually photo details taken from former works. Together with the top motif, they refer to the artist's experience as a dancer and articulate a relationship between movement and rest as well as past and present. Schlinke states, "My vocabulary arises from a somatic basis as much as from a purely visual one, reflecting those forces at work in the body, in painting, and in life." Exhibited in galleries in Houston and San Francisco, at the Dallas Visual Art Center and the Contemporary Art Center of Fort Worth, Schlinke's work was also in New American Talent: The Sixteenth Exhibition, organized by Arthouse (formerly the Texas Fine Arts Association). Schlinke received a BA and MA in Dance at the University of Wisconsin, Madsion. She lives and works in Austin. Sandra Fiedorek + Naomi Schlinke runs through through May 22. There is an artist talk on Saturday May 1. |
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Loteria I / Gallery Shoal Creek Opening May 15 at Gallery Shoal Creek is Loteria I, New Work by Rene Alvarado. In this group of work Alvarado re-interprets the imagery of Loteria, a folkloric game of chance that originated in 18th-century colonial Mexico and is still quite popular today. Key to Alvarado's work are his national origins and familial roots in northern Mexico and this group of paintings continues to explore traditionally accepted customs and iconography familiar to the artist. As a young boy in Manantial, a small village in the state of Coahuila, Alvarado recalls hearing shouts of: "El Gallo! El Diablito! La Sirena!" as family and friends gathered to play Loteria. Culturally, the game's imagery encompasses all aspects of Mexican life-everyday objects, stereotypes, and the natural environment; yet it is the game's interplay of imagery and language that most intrigues Alvarado. To the poetic clue "a coat for the poor," a jubilant player would respond "El Sol!" Such metaphorical language is the narrative of Loteria and enhances these rich, colorful, multi-layered and deeply felt work of Rene Alvarado. Alvarado attended the San Antonio Fine Arts Institute and was a member of and taught at the Old Chicken Farm Art Center in San Angelo. In 1998, he was chosen as the first Renaissance Gala Artist of the Year by the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts. His works are included in national and international private collections and are featured in galleries in Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin. He has been featured in numerous one-man shows and participated in group exhibitions in London, New York, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Texas and Colorado. This exhibition will be on view through June 26. Alvarado's work will also be highlighted in a solo exhibition, From Manantial, at the Instituto de Mexico in San Antonio's Hemisfair Plaza, opening on July 8.
Transforming/Transcending the Ordinary / On view through May 29 at Davis Gallery is Transforming / Transcending the Ordinary featuring the work of Martha Hughes and Barry George. This exhibition offers a comfortable pairing of Hughes's prints and drawing with George's sculpture. The two employ found objects in decidedly different ways, achieving varied effects. Most remarkable are Hughes' archival prints depicting individual items many would consider trash. In Artifacts Austin (2001), she gathers images of things one might pick up on a walk around downtown, for example a crushed cigarette, a crumpled cup, a cd, a leaf, or a gum wrapper transforming it into a modernist a grid with Pop sensibilities. There is an obsessive-compulsive quality to her process in which she scans numerous pieces of litter culled form Austin's streets, uses Photoshop to touch up the resulting images, prints the images, cuts out the images, and constructs collages. She also makes amazing drawings consisting of short colored lines arranged in complex geometric patterns. Sculptor Barry George also uses found objects in his artwork but has more direct, expressive and visceral style. With titles like "Beware of the Newspeak," and "If CEOs Could Fly," many of his works are overtly political though some are more rooted in nature. He states: "My creations are sometimes serious, expressing my ideas on our society and the direction it is going...The last several years I have incorporated forged elements in my sculpture to help me achieve a desired effect. Forging entails bringing the steel to red heat and hammering, blacksmith style, to shape it." While the tradition of incorporating found objects into works of art has a long lineage, the artists in Transforming / Transcending the Ordinary are able to invigorate the procedure by creating objects that are vital and current. Around town ...
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