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PHOTOS COURTESY OF
TWO VAULTS GALLERY
BLUE
KANGAROO. Karl Krogstad’s “London Kangaroos”
is one of many large, original mixed-media paintings
currently on display at Two Vaults Gallery.
Primarily known as an independent filmmaker,
Krogstad is also a painter inspired by the sights of
Paris.
Krogstad brings light of Paris to Two Vaults Gallery
By Dave R. Davison
For Tacoma
Weekly
dave@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: July 24, 2008
For those versed in the history of
art, Paris of the early 20th century was the undisputed
center of the artistic universe. Young, new painters with
names like Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Andre Matisse and
Marc Chagall were on the scene and creating work inspired by
the generation of Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul
Cezanne.
The nostalgic flavor of that
Paris– that imperial Europe whose cultural zenith was soon
to be eclipsed by the cataclysm of world war– is currently
to be encountered in the cozy setting of Tacoma’s own Two
Vaults Gallery. The paintings of Karl Krogstad, which are
currently on display in the gallery, exude the wonderful,
antique essence of the Parisian avant-garde of a hundred
years ago.
Krogstad, a Seattle-based,
award-winning independent filmmaker, is also a talented,
self-taught painter whose visits to Europe have ignited his
visual imagination with an obvious zeal to recapture the
Europe of young messieurs Picasso, Matisse, Braque and
Chagall.
Absorbing the European
atmosphere as well as the works of these modern masters,
Krogstad manages a magical synthesis that conjures up the
essence of a time and place pivotal in the history of
Western art.
He brings together the
compositional skill of Picasso, the color sensibility of
Matisse and the loose, fluid brushwork of Chagall. His mixed
media paintings are lush with color and Krogstad is adept in
his handling his brushes and his media. His deep colors and
thick, glossy, yellowed varnish give the paintings an
antique finish. Were it not for the dates prominently
scrawled on the front of most of the paintings (all seem to
have been done in the last few years), one might believe
that these are objects heavily burdened by the weight of
time’s passage.
In “Lhote’s Channel,” a
simple, rust-colored boat floats eternally becalmed on a sea
of custard. Quaint French buildings hang fat and flat in the
background.
Krogstad’s “London
Kangaroos” is a festive affair whose surface is broken up
with a diverse geometry of monuments, cobbled lanes, iron
railings, low walls, and buildings with classical columns.
The kangaroos of the title spill in from the right like big,
happy bunnies done in heavy slatherings of blue.
“Paris Miniature Golf” is
especially rich. The red ramps and curves of a miniature
golf course are set among venerable trees and ornamental
plants that are executed with quick brush strokes. The
accouterments of the golf course make for a fascinating
composition. The playful forms break up an otherwise idyllic
setting amid the shady trees.
With his busy brushes,
Krogstad has the gift of catching the feel and flavor of
place. One can almost feel the warm French air, hear the
street music and smell the unfamiliar surroundings. That is
the painter’s magic.
Also on view at Two Vaults
are sculptural works by Eve Wright who makes concrete frog
heads that are finished to resemble realistic frogs. Meant
to be set in a garden or pond, these convey the illusion of
a large frog peering out from hiding. Wright also makes
casts of small sized, human faces out of clear resin.
Internally lit, these compositions possess the charm of
holiday luminarios.
 ICONcepts
Photo: Courtesy Photo
R. MUTT: War Creates
Peace (like hate creates love) shows at Two Vaults
Gallery.
Local
icons at Two Vaults Gallery
by Alec Clayton
Jul 10, 2008
The show is called
ICONcepts, but it could just as well be called the
beatification of Dale Chihuly and Lynn Di Nino.
The term “icon” is one of those words the meaning of which
has been so expanded through common usage and misusage that
it can mean almost anything, from Hannah Montana to Jimi
Hendrix to the Coca-Cola logo. Dictionary.com defines icon
as “a representation of some sacred personage, as Christ or
a saint or angel, painted usually on a wood surface and
venerated itself as sacred.”
The curators of this show apparently gave the artists a lot
of leeway. Most chose to iconize the Tacoma arts scene. As I
implied in the opening paragraph, a lot of these artists
chose to make living saints of Di Nino and Chihuly, the
former because she has done so much to enliven the Tacoma
arts scene and the latter because he has focused the world’s
attention on Tacoma and the Pacific Northwest.
And it doesn’t hurt that portraits of Di Nino and Chihuly
are so easy to do. A shock of orange hair for one and an eye
patch for the other are all that’s needed to make either
immediately recognizable.
There are 50 icons in the show by 38 different artists. They
are crowded into a couple of small spaces in Two Vaults
Gallery. Some of the icons are serious, but most are
humorous; a number are by professional artists (and it
shows), and a few are by amateurs (and it shows). In purely
aesthetic terms, there’s not much good art here. But there
are a lot of good ideas and a lot of self-deprecating pokes
in the eye of Tacoma art.
A few examples:
St. Dale by Don Mayhre is a
collage or Photoshop portrait of Chihuly with one of his
trademark (or iconic) glass balls with tendrils shown behind
his head. It’s orange. It looks like a halo. It also looks
like Di Nino’s hair — intentionally or not.
Speaking of Di Nino’s hair, one of the funnier tributes to
her is Queen of Arts (get the pun?) by Elayn Vogel. This is
a portrait of Di Nino with metal scrubbers for hair. She’s
wearing a crown and a monkey sits on her head in recognition
of the 100th Monkey parties, which were her creation.
Di Nino herself iconizes Chihuly in her papier-mâché
portrait of the glass artist with some of his works,
including the glass flowers in the window at Union Station.
Photographer Chip van Gilder iconizes another Tacoma arts
supporter, sweet pea from King’s Books, with a simple
photograph. This picture demonstrates how easy it is to make
a typical portrait photo into an icon by putting it in a
deep frame.
One work I like a lot is Perpetual Transit by Kimberly
Sparks-Wilmer, a homage to Pierce Transit and the people who
take the bus. A saintly Madonna in the center cuddles a
little bus as if it were a baby. Transit tickets flare out
behind her head like a halo. Surrounding her are street
people, including mothers with children, a man with a walker
and a woman in a wheelchair. These are all delicate line
drawings cut from a magazine or catalog and pasted over a
street map. I heard from Di Nino that Sparks-Wilmer is her
cousin, who “is not an artist.” You surely can’t tell it
from looking at this work.
Another favorite is War Makes Peace (like hate creates love)
by R. Mutt (the fictitious name Marcel Duchamp gave to the
“creator” of his famous Fountain). This is an irony-filled
tribute to soldiers and the military filled with military
images and a crucifix. I will not attempt to interpret it
here, but I encourage readers to see it and make your own
judgment.
PHOTOS OF ART BY
MATT NAGLE
SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT. Richard Kirsten
Daiensai, a prolific artist at 88 years old, has
many paintings on view and for sale at Two Vaults
including “Zen Crow and the Enso” (top) and
“Contemplation on the Joy of Watermelon by a Happy
Crow,” the artist’s personal favorite.
Crows take over Two Vaults
By John Larson
Tacoma
Weekly
jlarson@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: May 22, 2008
A revered elder and a relatively
new face on the local art scene make for a perfect
combination in “Messages From A Sage,” the new show at Two
Vaults Gallery. Richard Kirsten Daiensai is a renowned
painter whose works have graced galleries and museums around
the world, while Phoebe Huffman makes ceramic pieces she
encourages buyers to place in their gardens. While there are
considerable differences between the two artists, they are
both intrigued by crows. The frequent use of crows in their
works establishes a connection between their creations that
makes for a good pairing.
Daiensai lives in Seattle
for six months a year and Japan the other six months. His
work has been shown in museums around the world. Seattle Art
Museum has 14 pieces in its permanent collection.
Daiensai is an ordained Zen
Buddhist priest. Shinto, a native folk religion in Japan
that emphasizes reverence of nature, “has influenced me
quite a bit,” he said. “I call it poetic art.”
“Fish Seeking Advice”
depicts a shaman having a conversation with a goldfish. Gold
hues wash through the clouds.
Daiensai once lived in a
temple in Japan next to a river named after crows. The birds
appear often in his works. In “Crows Having A Joke About
Mankind” two of them are laughing at a stick figure
representing man. The sky is done in thick swirls.
He works with acrylic paint,
a medium he chooses because it does not fade, and because of
its versatility.
“I am interested in a lot of
the textures you can get,” he said.
Several factors make
Daiensai’s paintings so remarkable. One is the prolific pace
he maintains, even at age 88. Eight of the works in this
show are new; several were done this month.
More significant is the
range of styles he achieves. There is no specific technique
or motif, no telltale sign that a painting is a Daiensai
work.
“The Silent Song Of
Rebirth,” a mixed media work, depicts Buddha and a
butterfly. It is so realistic it almost appears to be a
photograph or a computer-generated image.
And while Daiensai has a
knack for realism, he said he prefers symbolism.
Huffman, a Port Townsend
resident, has had works for sale at Two Vaults for a while
but this marks her first show in Tacoma.
Several of Huffman’s pieces
are objects stacked vertically and attached to a metal pole.
“Stepping Out” included a yellow ball-shaped object, a black
ring and a red figure hanging on.
“Free Fall” has crows,
balls, rings and what appears to be a skull.
“Evolving” is most imposing
of her pieces. At just more than six feet tall, it follows a
similar motif with balls, rings and a figuring grabbing hold
of the rod with one hand.
“City Across The Water” has
an egg-shaped object with windows on it, an odd rendition of
a skyscraper.
Crows appear often in
Huffman’s works. For “Birds In Balance,” she placed two
crows on one end of a rod with a white bird on the other.
The piece spins as the birds gently sway up and down, as if
on a teeter-totter.
Huffman said she feeds a
pair of crows who frequent her back yard. “They are like a
balance to us. They see through us,” Huffman said of crows.
“They are always doing a commentary on humanity. I am
fascinated by their core essence.”
She began messing around
with clay as a young girl and she used to focus on mosaic
tiles. The vertical pieces are relatively new for the
artists; “Evolving” is the largest such piece she has done
so far.
“Messages From A Sage” runs
through June 14. Two Vaults is located at 602 Fawcett Ave.
in Tacoma.
Image courtesy of artist
TRANSITIONS. Artist
Christopher Mathie suffered a severe illness
recently that caused him to transition from the
laborious art of pottery to the less physically
demanding art of painting. In this painting,
“Crossing Over,” the artist explores themes of
change and survival.
Artist’s past illness
releases new wave of creativity
By Matt Nagle
Tacoma Weekly
mattnagle@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: November 22, 2007
Artist
Christopher Mathie is perhaps best known for his raku
pottery, but for November Art Walk he unveiled a new set
of paintings that show he is just as talented with a
brush in his hand as he is sitting at a potter’s wheel.
“Form
and Texture” is the name of his new exhibit at Two
Vaults Gallery that includes both paintings and pottery.
The two worlds meet in Mathie’s works – in both paint
and clay his art reveals intriguing textures and forms
that communicate his intent to bring out the subtle
beauty of the natural world.
Born in
Idaho Falls, Idaho in 1971, Mathie was raised in the
country near the desert where he gained interest and
appreciation for nature. He also showed artistic promise
at an early age and went on to pursue drawing, painting,
printmaking, sculpture and pottery. He developed a real
affinity for clay and the potter’s wheel. Winning
numerous scholarships, he attended University of Puget
Sound and graduated in 1994 with honors in art, having
already received significant recognition from Seattle
area galleries.
Mathie’s
Great Blue Heron series of paintings is fine art
defined. He describes them as “a pictorial vision of my
emotions.” His hand is at once bold and spontaneous yet
delicate – the viewer can see how he loaded his brush
with paint and took vigorous swipes at the canvas to
create the characteristic wispy, long feathers that hang
down on the stoic heron. He uses many colors to blend a
background and bird that exude grace and refinement,
drama and mystery.
“I paint
fast and crazy,” he said. “I don’t care what comes out.
I just trust that it’s going to be right. I try never to
be afraid.”
The
pottery he has on display shows a true master’s touch.
Some have a crackle-type finish in shades of soft pinks
and grays, a few decorated with images of maple leaves
on the vine sculpted into the clay. The set of
“Reflecting Vessels” glisten and sparkle in the light;
their outer finish is a metallic gold that is dazzling
to the eyes.
His
abstract impressionist paintings are such that the
viewer can let the mind freely interpret a personal
meaning in each work. “Crossing Over,” a big 48 x
48-inch abstract, looks like two bodies of water
crashing together. Upon closer inspection, a little
ladder and sailboat appear, etched into the thick,
blue-toned paint with a palette knife. Vague little
house-like structures in hues of reddish orange warm up
the painting, suggesting life is present within the
colder blues.
Mathie
explained that the painting is about transitions and
reflects a deeply personal transition he recently
experienced during a severe illness that made his
wrists, neck and back so weak he was unable to make
pottery, his life’s work. Mathie’s raku vessels come in
some big sizes, and even handling the wet clay for his
smaller pieces became too painful for him. In fact, he
became so ill he thought he might die.
“I
thought my career was over,” he said. “My whole
livelihood is my art. It’s all I do.” He has been
supporting himself through his art for 16 years. Down
but not out, Mathie turned to painting and over the past
two years he has produced many pieces. The artist said
his heron paintings are all forms of self-portraits.
Mathie said he fell in love with the heron while living
in a beach house on Puget Sound at the time he found out
how sick he was. He would spend hours studying the regal
bird, and it became his teacher and good luck symbol.
“Every
time I draw, paint or sculpt a heron I feel it is imbued
with my fondness for the bird, and I assign each heron
some of my own emotions,” he said.
Mathie
has since healed from his illness and he is getting
stronger working with a personal trainer and combining
Eastern and Western treatments with yoga, meditation and
acupuncture. His recuperation came just in time for him
to be able to accept a commission from the Port of
Tacoma to create a red raku vessel presented this year
to dignitaries in Tokyo at a document signing between
the port and the Japan-based NYK Line. In 2005, a large
red raku vessel created by Mathie was presented to Yang
Ming Corporation of Taiwan during the grand opening of
their Olympic Container Terminal at Port of Tacoma.
Mathie’s
art can be seen in other parts of the world as well. A
collection of his works are on permanent display at the
Port of Vladivostock, given as a corporate gift from the
Port of Tacoma in 1997 to commemorate the Russian port’s
100th anniversary.
Mathie
provides many local organizations with pottery to
auction or sell at fundraisers. Forty-six of his raku
vessels were part of a silent auction this year to
benefit the Gig Harbor Peninsula Historical Society’s
campaign to build a new Harbor History Museum. Visitors
to Good Samaritan Cancer Research Center in Puyallup can
see his new “Raku Tile Donor Wall,” individual hand-made
tiles bearing the names of individuals who made a
significant contribution to the center.
The
artist’s exhibitions, commissions, collectors,
accomplishments and honors are far too numerous to list
here. Suffice it to say that Mathie is a true Northwest
icon in the world of art, his ceramics and paintings
currently represented by major galleries in California,
Arizona, Oregon and Washington state. Tacomans can see
and purchase his works on display in “Form and Texture”
until Feb. 16, 2008. Two Vaults Gallery is located at
602 S. Fawcett. For more information, call (253)
759-6233 or visit
www.twovaults.com.
[The Tacoma News Tribune, Nov.
2, 2007]
TWO
VAULTS EXHIBIT
Two Vaults gallery, near
the Grand Cinema, holds its third Day of the Dead show with
old and new artists.
Chanda Castillo’s Muerto boxes frame pop art, skulls and
found objects in mini-altarlike boxes;
Chris Bivens creates spookily thin art dolls with sad,
ghostly faces;
Carole Mosher gives skeletal sculptures wings and hearts.
Altar painter Susie Cowan and skeleton portraitist Mykel
Jantz are also back.
What: Dia de los
Muertos exhibition
Who: Two Vaults
Gallery
When: Reception,
7-9 p.m. Nov. 2; exhibit runs 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Tuesdays-Wednesdays, noon-8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through
Nov. 10
Where: 602 S.
Fawcett Ave., Tacoma
Cost: Free
Contact: 253-759-6233,
www.twovaults.com
Photo by Paula Tutmarc-Johnson
DEAD AND LOVING IT.
Mykel Jantz is a folk artist who’s not afraid of
experimentation. His happy looking skeletons are showcased
in various paintings at Two Vaults Gallery in honor of Dia
de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
Day of the Dead
comes alive at Two Vaults
By Matt Nagle
Tacoma Weekly
mattnagle@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: October 25, 2007
Two Vaults Gallery is all decked out again
this year in honor of Dia de los Muertos. For the third year in a
row the gallery is celebrating Day of the Dead by displaying works
of local artists with a penchant for the surreal and a love for this
ancient, life-affirming celebration of the eternal cycle of life.
Upon entering, visitors will be greeted by
the gallery’s bony guest doorman, “Henry.” Made completely out of
carved driftwood and put together with pegs and dowels, it seems as
if artist Carol Mosher breathed life into “Henry” as she made him.
He wears his heart on the outside of his ribcage, for example, and
it is sticking right out there like the welcoming, open hand of a
new acquaintance. A bluebird of happiness sits on his shoulder,
adding a touch of whimsy to the stalwart and friendly looking
life-sized skeleton.
“I love that he is such a personality,” noted
gallery owner Paula Tutmarc-Johnson.
Mosher continues the theme in her other
pieces on display, a collection of fun and fanciful skeletons of
which the bodies are made from found objects. The carved wooden arm
and leg bones of “Skeletechie” dangle from a small circuit board,
while the body of “Bingo Slim” is made from a wooden bingo card.
More found object art can be seen in the
works of Chanda Castillo. Her mixed medium shadow boxes and tabletop
shrines are full of the most wonderful array of trinkets she
collected during one of her many trips to Mexico. There is a lot to
see in Castillo’s three-dimensional art – coins, feathers, tiny
figurines like the skeleton couple in “La Parejta” (“The Little
Couple”), rosaries, flowers, candles, beads – she decorates and
paints every surface inside and out. “La Vandiosa 1 and 2” (“The
Vain One”) includes an amusing little painting of a skeleton sitting
at a dressing table brushing her imaginary hair.
Castillo’s paintings are equally engaging,
gentle to behold with a pleasant feminine quality to them. Using
bright shades of color, she paints comforting, dreamlike visions of
life and death represented by lilies, plants, water and religious
imagery like the Sacred Heart. Her paintings are adorned with items
like opened lockets that reveal a photo of Jesus Christ or the
Virgin of Guadalupe. “Imagining the Hereafter” includes a purple
skull wearing a real gold and beaded earring. Castillo oftentimes
incorporates images of iconic Mexican artist Frieda Kahlo into her
art as well.
The paintings on display by Mykel Jantz catch
the eye immediately. Well known for his renditions of dead
celebrities, Jantz has a knack for crafting a skeletal face into the
spitting image of notables like Marlon Brando as “The Godfather,”
Ray Charles and even Julia Child and Mr. Rogers.
Tutmarc-Johnson described Jantz as a folk
artist who loves to try new ways of creating. “There’s more
experimentation going on when Mykel works,” she said. His art on
display at the gallery easily elicits smiles from viewers. “Vacation
at Chichen” looks like a typical vacation snapshot, only this time
the two sightseeing travelers are skeletons standing in front of a
local attraction. “Family Vacation” shows a group of skeleton
vacationers in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, all smiles for
the camera.
For fine art at its best, viewers will want
to check out Susie Cowan’s collection of paintings. “Her layering
work is phenomenal,” observed Tutmarc-Johnson. “Susie is a real
master of her medium. There’s just so much heart and soul in it.”
The artist also mixes collage into some pieces like glow-in-the-dark
skeletons. Some of her work is on view at the Portland Art Museum.
Cowan painted “Utah Requiem” shortly after
the recent tragedies in Utah when coal miners and several of their
rescuers perished when the mine collapsed. The texture and layers
the artist achieved with acrylic paints is fascinating to examine.
In the painting a female figure plays a violin in the arid environs
of the Utah desert, suggesting joy and hope in the presence of
death. Skulls surround her but her face reveals complete contentment
at her music making.
Two companion pieces, “Roy Hung the Stars for
Adelyne” and “Adelyne Catches a Falling Star,” tell a story of deep
love between Cowan’s late uncle Roy, who is said to have “hung the
stars” for his wife, and her also late aunt Adelyne, who caught them
when they fell. In Cowan’s paintings both are skeletons and each one
appears happy, seeming to savor everlasting life, together still.
Finally, moody looking dolls and masks made
by Chris Bivens round out the exhibit. However, all of Bivens’ dolls
sold on opening night Oct. 18. His masks remain hanging, though,
carved and decorated with feathers, twigs, animal hair and some
brass jewelry here and there. “It’s delightful to have Chris’ work,”
offered Tutmarc-Johnson. “We just want more of it.”
Two Vaults Gallery is located at 602 S.
Fawcett. For more information, call (253) 759-6233 or visit
www.twovaults.com.
Photo Courtesy of two vaults
Window
dressing. One of LuLu’s talents is the way
she conveys emotion through the eyes of her subject,
as shown in this painting titled “Thoughtful. ” This
image is painted on a window.
Artist LuLu
overcomes injury with painting
By Meghan
Erkkinen
Tacoma Weekly
merkkinen@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: September 13, 2007
After LuLu was in a car accident
more than 10 years ago, doctors told her she might never
walk again. She couldn’t go back to work and she eventually
lost her job.Instead of despairing,
though, LuLu saw an opportunity. She decided to begin to
paint.
“It’s something that I
always wanted to do all my life,” she noted. She begged and
borrowed to get the supplies she needed to begin – paint,
brushes, blank canvases.
“For me, it’s healing,” LuLu
remarked. “I just paint to get well. It puts me in such a
great space. You’re not thinking about anything when you’re
painting.”
More than 15 of LuLu’s
pieces are now on display at Two Vaults Studio Gallery. The
pieces are of people, and mostly of their faces.
Most of the faces aren’t of
real people, although LuLu said she sometimes catches
expressions or eyes in photographs that she later paints.
“They’re my friends,” LuLu
said. “They come and they visit me in my dreams.”
The most striking parts of
these paintings are her subjects’ eyes, which seem to tell
viewers a lot.
“Eyes really are the window
to the soul,” LuLu stated.
Paula Tutmarc-Johnson, the
owner of Two Vaults, said the paintings are more than just
images.
“These are more than faces,”
Tutmarc-Johnson declared. “Personalities come through her.”
One painting, titled “Child
Waiting,” expresses through the child’s eyes the longing
that the painting’s title suggests.
Another, “Hidden,” is of a
man whose face is partly shrouded by a brimmed hat. The
painting is dark, but it doesn’t express gloom. Instead, the
man in the painting appears to be introspective and removed.
Several of LuLu’s images are
of Native American subjects. Those pieces are inspired by
the works of Edward S. Curtis, who photographed Native
Americans extensively around the turn of the 20th century.
Some of LuLu’s favorite paintings are of Native Americans,
including one of a Zuni warrior, on display at the gallery.
Although most of her
paintings are done on traditional canvases, LuLu also uses
some non-traditional backgrounds. She paints images on wood
and windows.
“I used to do a lot of
dumpster diving when I lived in Seattle because you find so
many cool things,” LuLu recalled. In her search, she found
several old windows.
“I thought, ‘what a great
idea, because eyes are the windows,’” she said.
LuLu is entirely
self-taught. When she decided to use windows as a canvas,
she worked to develop a primer that would make the oil paint
last. Over time, she has also developed techniques to add
texture to her paintings. However, she won’t reveal the
secrets she has developed over the years.
“It took me a long time to
figure stuff out,” LuLu pointed out. “That’s part of the
journey.”
Although most of her pieces
on display are paintings, LuLu also has some artwork made
from papier-mâché, including a female form with a child
painted on the front, titled “The Girl Inside.” The piece
was modeled after a 60-year-old woman she knows with the
heart of a girl.
In spite of her doctors’
warning, LuLu has been rehabilitated and can walk again.
However, she has faced another struggle in recent years as
she battles multiple sclerosis. It has affected her ability
to paint, especially in winter months. However, Tutmarc-Johnson
said, it has not affected the quality of LuLu’s work.
“If this work is any
different, it’s more introspective,” Tutmarc-Johnson said.
Even though her multiple
sclerosis poses a challenge, LuLu continues to paint,
relying on the healing powers of her painting.
“I get to it as often as I
can,” she commented. “I’m just so happy about what I do.”
Several of LuLu’s new
paintings are on display at Two Vaults and will be for at
least three months or until they are sold, Tutmarc-Johnson
said. All of the pieces on display may be purchased.
However, Tutmarc-Johnson
said, “as long as she has work, we’ll display it.”
from The Weekly Volcano,
2007-08-09
Gestural love
Chuck Gumpert
and Christopher Mathie show at Two Vaults Gallery
Posted: Aug 09, 2007 by Alec Clayton
Photo: Chuck Gumpert
“New Wind Blowing,” mixed
media, by Chuck Gumpert
Chuck Gumpert and Christopher Mathie
are painters after my own heart. They both love the act of
painting ― the kind of painting that since the 1940s has
been called “gestural,” a word not recognized by
dictionaries but well loved by artists the world over.
Gumpert and Mathie share a studio,
and whether or not they consciously influence one another,
their mutual influence is evident in their work. So much so,
in fact, that I thought all of the paintings at Two Vaults
Gallery were by Gumpert. That misconception was not helped
by the fact that the show was billed as paintings by Gumpert
and raku pottery by Mathie.
Yes, there are pots by Mathie in the
show. Nicely executed pots as a matter of fact. But a pot is
to me as is a rose to Gertrude Stein, and if that doesn’t
make sense, ask someone older and wiser.
By coincidence, the two artists came
into the gallery while I was looking at their work, and
Mathie set me straight when he realized I had mistaken his
paintings for Gumpert’s.
Both artists make abstract paintings
with landscape elements and an occasional bridge or building
or figure showing up here and there ― shadowy, amorphous
figures and hints of a horizon. Both layer large areas of
color on the canvas with a strong emphasis on mark-making.
Gumpert’s paintings are more atmospheric, and his colors are
kept to a limited range with browns and grays predominating.
The edges of his forms are soft, and he uses little or no
line and practically no dark and light contrasts. Most of
his forms are variations on squares and rectangles. His
landscapes are stormy; his figures moody. And when he does
include figures they are more intentional and more clearly
defined than figures by Mathie, whose figures seem more like
abstract shapes that accidentally look figurative.
Mathie’s paintings range from
deliberate landscapes to completely nonobjective
abstractions. His landscapes are influenced by J.M.W.
Turner, the British master of stormy seas (Gumpert’s look
more like James McNeil Whistler). His colors are brighter;
his abstract shapes are more organic; and in some of his
paintings, he uses a lot of big, sweeping lines.
One Gumpert painting I particularly
like is “New Wind Blowing,” a figurative painting featuring
a single silhouetted figure in brown standing almost
dead-center in a field of atmospheric gray swirls. The
figure is a pregnant a woman. She looks as if her shape has
been ripped out of the gray canvas. The breakup of space,
the use of transparencies, and the placement of the figure
in this painting are all excellent.
“Accidental Fugitive” is an abstract
seascape in tones of gray with very subtle hints of red,
brown and green in two clumps of square shapes. No specific
details are discernable, but the feeling is of a stormy sea
with waves washing up against rocks and pilings.
I was told that Gumpert’s paintings
in this show are among his latest. He brought out one older
painting to show me, and I liked it better than most of the
ones in the show, primarily because the colors were a little
brighter and there was more contrast. I also preferred a lot
of his paintings that are pictured on the gallery Web site.
I can’t tell if his work has become more muted lately or if
it looks brighter in reproduction. If it has become more
muted, that is a direction he may not want to continue
pursuing.
Mathie’s most outstanding work is a
piece called “Monolith for Spring,” which, at 10 feet by 30
inches, stands floor to ceiling in the gallery. Heavy lines
in large, swirling motions delineate an abstract figure with
shapes that are not confined to the figure but bleed out
into the background. The paint is thick, and the colors are
raw.
Mathie and Gumpert are regulars at
Two Vaults Gallery. I felt like this particular show did not
necessarily show the best of their work. The good thing for
collectors is that if you don’t see something you want in
this show, the gallery can direct you to many other works by
these prolific and talented artists.
[Two Vaults Gallery,
through Sept. 20 Tuesday-Wednesday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Thursday-Saturday noon to 8 p.m., Sunday 2 to 7 p.m., 602 S.
Fawcett, Tacoma, 253.759.6233,
http://twovaults. com]
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