Adventure into the Land of Presidio Giants

Refreshed after sharing a pipe of kelp, Dea and I started out on our first adventure into the wilderness that surrounded us. There is so much to be explored in the Presidio of San Francisco, with its vast acres packed with national landmarks, artifacts, residents, office spaces, hiking trails, and of course, Sculpture. What good would a national park be without Sculpture?

The last time that I was here was just before the military settlement that seems to have come and gone; instead of sand dunes there are giant Cypress and Redwood trees that are the military’s legacy. It seems fitting then that any art meant to decorate this impressive landscape would have to be able to compete with the massive natural beauty where it was stationed. Our first discovery was not an easy one. Hiding in the hills of forest was a giant sculpture of tree trunks. As if a giant child had pulled up trees from the earth, removed the branches, and stacked them in a tight spire reaching towards the heavens. The mass of trees at the base slowly ascend and tighten seamlessly, the higher the eye travels the more the trees become one single entity, a jagged gnarled branch, against the empty blue sky.

The sculpture was created in 2008 by iconic human artist Andy Goldsworthy to integrate seamlessly into the landscape. As we came up the hill towards it, the sculpture peaked over the horizon, looking more like a mighty tree scarred by a lightning strike than like a man made piece of art. While it might be easy to dismiss this sculpture by the roadside, it is worthwhile to pull over and get out to actually view “Spire” close up.

Made from 35 cypress trees that have been perfectly entwined together, their massive trunks piled on top and between one another rising up 90 feet into the sky. In bare white wood patches can be seen tattoos in the travels of termites’ intricate comings and goings, making thoughtful attention brought to the fact that while this is a manmade sculpture, it is not permanent, and like its surroundings, will change as all things do. “Spire” both fits into its surroundings gracefully and at times sticks out like a sore thumb. It may be made of natural materials but there is a sense of design and intention to the piece that cannot be dismissed, its voice calling out for attention to the preservation of its world.

Having enjoyed our time in the forests we made our way back down towards the water and emerged at Chrissy Fields in the land of giant toys, made by Mark di Suvero. These massive creations litter the lawn in an offsite show sponsored by the SFMOMA, but unlike “Spire” Mark di Suvero’s work is only here until May 2014. Dea and I watched the sculptures in the overcast evening, absorbing the chill from the Pacific, its pillowed winds whipping our hair and pinking our cheeks. Tiny black birds with red tipped wings told us the stories of each piece, the many places that they have been exhibited around the world, and the impact that these steel constructions had had on the humans who observed their form and movement over the last five decades of the artist’s career. Di Suvero’s works each are individually impressive, not just in size and the difficulty of the medium, but in the organic way these works interact with and become reflections of their environment.

It had been a long luxurious day of art hunting, our wild sculptures are now still living in the Land of the Presidio Giants, and now satisfied with our discoveries; Dea and I slipped back into our fins and dove into the turbulent waters of the bay. Our tails detoured us at the most accommodating establishment that had Mermaid Service (water adjacent is so much more convenient), and then we swam to our separate ways, promising to meet soon, for more explorations of the surface, and the multitude of lost things calling out to us.

The Mermaid Stories: Tails of Art and Adventure

The coast of San Francisco is a very special place that is always a thrill to visit, although, every time that I set foot on land is an adventure for me. I live most of my life in a cave under the sea. It is quite cozy, and I have the delightful company of many magical friends, but there is much to do in my line of work for the powers that be under the Mother Ocean. My name is Calypso, Siren of Lost things. I spend most of my eternal life combing the world for the most magnificent of lost things. I can hear the call of beauty in a lost object, in a great work of art, the true voice calling out, asking to be heard. Some things are lost and should be returned, while others are hanging in plain sight, ready for you to come and discover them. I listen for these calls and do what I can to restore balance.

The world has all changed so much since the last time I was on dry land, yet there are many lost things that require my help here in the glittering San Francisco Bay. I knew that I was needed here so I reached out for a guide. A Pelican friend of mine who flies out to the oil tankers down in Southern California spread the word, and brought back the most excellent news; that I would have a fellow Mermaid companion met me upon arrival at Baker Beach.

I found Dea right away, you couldn't miss her if you tried. As I walked out of the waves, my tail neatly rolled up under my arm, and I found her sunning on a large towel, smile and hair glistening in the sun. She had surrounded herself with all that I would need laid out around her in delightful flourish in the sand. Dee had been living among the humans of San Francisco Bay for many years now, so when I told her of my mission, she was delighted to help. Dea is one of my hundreds of sisters, a fellow mermaid and muse, each of us born for a different purpose. Dea too desired to observe great beauty in the world. And it was her mission to amplify it, reform its essence and transform those energies out to the world.

We both felt that instant connection as soon as we met, and embraced as sisters, excited for the journey ahead. Over a refreshing meal of local delicacies, we devised our plan: to explore the Bay Area for the most amazing of Human Arts. For what else is a muse to do with her time, but what she was made to do?

Cohesive Chaos is in the Bag

          Much of the art we see these days is grandiose. It’s hard not to look at the art world’s brightest starts without being intimidated simply by the materials they use. Thankfully art does not have to consist of skulls bedazzled in diamonds or rooftop bamboo buildings, real art can be made out of anything. That is what makes something become art, taking a common place object, and putting a different spin. The Paper Bag Show does just that, showing us a different view of something we use as not just a convenience, but as a tangible conduit into the world of art.

The Paper Bag Show is a collective effort of seventeen artists, curated by Ashleigh Norman and Cesar Karamazov. All artists involved are associated with CSUCI as alumni, professors or students. The exhibit itself ranges drastically from artist to artist with little in common. The curators of The Paper Bag Show asked their participants to spend the summer creating a piece for the exhibit with a single guideline: use a paper bag. The pieces range from images of paper bags, art on paper bags, and art made of paper bags.

CSUCI student Perry Casey’s “American Bag”, a mixed media on canvas work, depicts a man with a paper bag printed with the American flag, over his head. The work’s color scheme is split in two. The world where the subject’s body exists is a flat, black and white world, juxtaposed against the shadowed, vibrant world where the bag cuts off the subject’s senses. The bag is gripped tightly by simple fingers. Casey’s play on our nation’s economic status, along with the cultural common knowledge associated with the paper bag, creates a gripping political statement with a humorous twist.

Another piece titled “Peep” by Professor Christophe Bourély, is simple but memorable. Two lunch sack sized paper bags lay overlapping one another on their side so that there are no openings except for a hole cut about the size of a quarter. When the viewer peeps inside, a photograph of a human eye, the same size as the opening, peers back at them. Bourély’s minimalist take on the project is an interesting human nature observation typical of the artist’s own dark sense of humor.

  Local artist and CSUCI alumni, Raul Valdez, contributed one of the most striking pieces in the Paper Bag Show. His site-specific piece “Dos” comprises of two structures of intricately folded paper bags with burlap suspended by sewing string and weighted with copper and silver beads. Valdez combines these contrasting materials in provoking manners, transforming the average into the elegant, making the piece both complicated and graceful. Using both pins and stitching to secure the paper bags to the burlap, Valdez integrates these unlikely bedfellows flawlessly bringing out the beauty in both the materials through their contradictions.

While it was not intentional, The Paper Bag Show has a surprisingly consistent humor to its collection. “Everything was left up to the individual artist,” says curator and artist Ashleigh Norman, “I didn’t know what the show would entail until the artists dropped off their pieces.” Norman and Karamazov’s hard work and careful choice of artists must then be what delivers the show’s a sense of unity uncommon for a collective presentation. It is in the various methods of incorporating the paper bag into the individual artist’s world view that seems to give the collection cohesive chaos.

CSUCI may be a new university, but if The Paper Bag Show is any indication of the type of artists that it cultivates, we can expect great things from the CSUCI Art Department. The Paper Bag Show is open to the public at the Palm Gallery in downtown Camarillo from October 10^th through November 4^th. Not only is it worthwhile to take the time to go see this show, don’t forget to bring your own paper bag, as you might want to take a piece of the show away with you.  

Self on a Sill

         Walking through galleries, looking at the many ways that the artists put their heart and soul out on display, most of us have something to the effect of one basic thought after the general good or bad judgment: “Would I put that on my wall?” We may not actually be shopping for art, but it is a phrase persistently heard as art viewers pace gallery walls. In one of CSUCI’s first shows of the school year, “Magic Realism” features two nationally recognized artists in order to turn the focus to a more personal view of both audience and artist, exploring the items that we do choose to place on our walls, and the significance behind them.

Phyllis Davidson’s collection “Shelf Life” consists of oil on canvas paintings that have a striking sense of realism. From across the room most of her works appear to be three dimensional, shelves supporting their array of dust collectors, dolls, and general knick-knacks. Objects range from contemporary to antique, easily acquired to utterly unique. These groupings are not just another stroll down still life lane, and require more than just a superfluous glance. Strong undertones of dark humor can be sensed in all pieces, and a majority of them are more than just slightly naughty.

In “Jane Be Good” (seen below) there are examples of both. Amongst an array of toys are three female dolls, all different, each placed with her legs spread wide, and a male figure reacting to them in different ways. This painting not only uses the American idolization of femininity in the name, but also with the imagery of Eve, and Little Red Riding Hood. A few of the images Davidson chooses may be slightly off putting for some (a Buddha with a forehead elongated to phallic proportion, an anatomically correct sock monkey doll), but it appears that she may be using these as tools to a greater purpose. Making so many objects that we consider utterly innocent and common place shocking or graphic, seems to be a manner of humor, forcing us to not take some of the things we prize so seriously. Davidson might be trying to hit a deeper note though, emphasizing that even the straight forward things in life (a Madonna, or book of Mother Goose Tales) is not as one dimensional as we presume, reminding us that that these icons have a past all their own, both light and dark.

“The Afterworks” is the much more family friendly, light hearted section of this show.  Douglas Sutherland’s oil on panel collection consists mostly of small studies in realistic still life style. While Davidson focuses on the larger picture, Sutherland crops the scope of his subjects with a keen eye for composition. His subject manner leans more toward the spiritual and matters of the heart. Works such as “Sue” and “Justin” stand out as photographic realism of the artist’s subjects are placed in a setting more commonly seen in religious iconology, with a halo framing the head, and an impressively detailed backdrop.

The most impressive piece in Sutherland’s collection is easily “Another Venus Cupid Folly and Time” (seen above). Here we see a brightly striped curtain tied back to display a strange macabre scene of objects. This painting is done with flawless shadows, making it appear to be just within our grasp. The hues of the curtain highlight and accentuate the painting’s subjects, so that nothing seems out of place, and yet the reasoning behind the setting itself in still a mystery. It is clear from seeing the collection as a whole in its progressive order, that the smaller works are the things that inspire Sutherland to create his master works such as “Another Venus Cupid Folly and Time.” These small but striking paintings are a look more into the personal life and mind of the artist in a refreshing twist on the classic still life formula.

The opportunity to see “Magic Realism” is worth the drive out to the CSUCI campus, and any student who misses it is missing out. We can all use the giggle or shock that will come from viewing the surprisingly dirty sophistication of “Shelf Life”, and art lovers with a soft spot for still life will find “The Afterworks” a refreshing take on the old standards. The show opened September 1^st  in the Napa Hall Gallery of CSUCI and will be running through until the end of the month. So go ahead, poke around someone else’s shelves, the artists are inviting you in.

http://art.csuci.edu/gallery/artgallery.html


http://www.phyllisdavidson.com/index.html

Spirit in Motion

            When most people look for art, they look for something that moves them. Well, how about looking for art that does that and actually appears to move? In local artist Beverly Decker’s latest show, “Visual Meditations / Abstract Calligraphy”, that is what you will find: paintings that have an enticing appearance of motion and a message to move your soul.

Through a technique of combining abstract with realism, Beverly Decker carves out a distinct niche for herself in our art community. The 643 Project Space gallery opening welcomed art lovers to look at an impressive volume of work consisting of various sized paintings, prints and books.

While some might find Decker’s work slightly over-whelming at first, her intricate layering techniques are worth taking the time to wrap one’s mind around. Decker first paints her subjects using an acrylic luminescent medium, and then continues to overlay it with one or more spirals of continuous lines of calligraphy. This skillful combination portrays simplicity in its subject manner but complexity in execution, resulting in a powerful effect of drawing one into the artist’s work with multiple tools in order to convey a message.

With a closer look at the paintings, one can read quite clearly what they literally say to us against the blurred image of the subjects. Yet when viewed from afar, the organic forms of the calligraphy shift out of focus, and the image in the background becomes prominent. The collection whispers a theme of simplicity, and is anything but. The phrases Decker uses all originate from a Buddhist entreaty, “With the thought of love, joy, peace and compassion”.

The contents of this show are quite bold despite the overall peaceful theme. The images on which they are places all reflect the text; things one might associate with Buddhism, peace, love and nature. Images of flying birds, the cosmos and dancers populate most of her canvases in an intense color pallet. Using her calligraphy spirals Decker fashions impressive illusions of movement on the already moving subjects creating an optical allusion of actual movement. If the motion of both text and subjects isn’t enough to suck you in, the sensation of light radiating from them will, as the paint is luminescent. That means the paint actually exhibits light, and depending on the light in the room, will have a different look at different times of day.

In Visual Meditation #3732, a small bird appears to be fighting a strong wind as it flies upward, overlain with a grid of six different spiraling quotes. This whirl of energy causes one to see the force of the wind as well as the power ushering from the wingspan. The swirls of calligraphy on top of subjects in motion seem to cause a strange sensation resulting in a delightfully dizzying effect from afar.        

           Beverly Decker’s “Visual Meditations / Abstract Calligraphy” is showing at the 643 Project Space Gallery in Ventura from August 5th through the 26^th and is now available to view by appointment only. This intensely moving collection is worth the time and the meditation it takes one to completely view and absorb these pieces.

Beverly Decker at SBCC
Beverly Decker's Website