You be the judge
Area artists show their best at ARTSWorcester's biennial exhibition
by Leon Nigrosh
ARTSWORCESTER SEVENTH BIENNIAL JURIED EXHIBITION
at the Worcester Center for Crafts, 25 Sagamore Road, through July 18.
When the Biennial rolled into Worcester in 1985 it created a surge of interest
in the visual arts. Along with an outpouring of work from the area's growing
number of artists, some sort of controversy usually emerges as well. So far
this go-round, the only note of friction seems to be the grumblings of a few
old-timers and founding mothers and fathers regarding the newly instituted
entry fees. These folks remember that one of the original tenets of
ARTSWorcester (née Cultural Assembly) was that artists would never be
charged fees -- a promise kept for a decade, until now.
But I'll put that matter aside and, in the interest of full disclosure,
confess that I was among the hundreds of area artists who submitted works
(totaling nearly 500 objects in five categories) to this year's competition,
thus giving the arts community the opportunity to judge me for a change.
New Hampshire ceramic artist Gerry Williams, Tufts photography professor Jim
Dow, and gallery director/curator Linda Poras undertook the daunting task of
winnowing out the entries to some sort of manageable exhibition. The results
virtually plaster the walls and sprawl across the floors of the Worcester
Center for Crafts.
More than 150 paintings, works on paper, photos, sculptures, and crafts
compete for attention. Several passes through the exhibition are necessary to
appreciate the work. Overall, the vast majority of the artists display a high
degree of artistic skill, good use of materials, and attention to details.
There is a refreshing mix of work by established artists and newcomers. It is
also nice to see some of the pros taking a chance by offering recent examples
that represent the new directions they're taking -- although some folks ought
to stop showing the same shopworn stuff (you know who you are).
In an open juried show of this type, it is endemic that the range of works
cover almost every style, material, and philosophy currently in vogue -- or
out. This exhibit abounds with contrasts in content and intent. The joy of
companionship in George DeFranca's charming color photo of three Sisters
is vastly increased when compared to the revulsion evoked by Eva Adjoian's
horrific wax, papier maché and cloth babies in The Nuclearistic
Vicissitudes Evulsed from the Nuptial Series. A stylistic contrast within a
particular medium is evident between WCC woodworker Robert March's finely tuned
maple walnut Bench with its measured curves and sensuous arches and Brad
King's dark Medusa's Chair: A Striking Design fashioned from gnarled
laurel vines and rough planks that hide a rattlesnake's head poised to
strike.
The majority of paintings, drawings, and photos in this exhibition are
figurative and representational, with few abstract attempts other than Coleen
Payne's noteworthy lyrical charcoal drawing Adagio. Some works, however,
enter into a deeply personal realm. David Prifti's large wall piece
Reliquary, with its faded photo, dried wood, old brooms, and bleached
bone, appears to serve as a memorial to a dear one. Peter Wise's tall, colorful
painting Under the Volcano equates Mayan gods with Christianity as
linked by time, or does it? We are left also to wonder what was going through
Marcella Stasa's mind while she worked on her untitled piece which sets a dead
bird's head and a desiccated salamander among dried-flower petals on a tiny,
rusted tin bench. The raison d'être that drives Timothy Zelesky's
fanciful acrylic painting Marriage is much more obvious. In it, the
partners have become so intertwined that you can't trace their individual
parts.
Among the 22 winners were Xiaodong Zhang for his sensitive painting of a
young
woman, Michael Hachey for his frenzied truck drawings and Worcester
Phoenix's own Cheryl Richards for her tiny Polaroid transfer of
snow-whipped Bostonians. But more about me. The judges were kind enough to
include a covered porcelain-luster jar and platter I'd submitted. Thanks. Of
course, it remains to be seen who will win the coveted Visitor's Choice Award,
which is to be decided by vox populi (that, dear readers, means you). So get to
the show soon and support the artist of your choice, either by vote or purchase
-- or both.
Worcester Center for Crafts gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed July 4 and 5. Call
ARTSWorcester at 755-5142 or the WCC at 755-8183.