Jack of hearts

Painter Jack Wolfe's ingenious house of cards

by Leon Nigrosh

JACK WOLFE: OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM At the Danforth Museum of Art, 123 Union Avenue, Framingham, through May 23, 1999. Soon after Jack Wolfe got out of art school, his largely abstracted paintings caught on, earning him several shows at prestigious Boston-area galleries and museums. Armed with these triumphs he went to New York City, in the early '50s, then the epicenter of Abstract Expressionist art. Concerned more about issues involving the artist and his canvas, Wolfe couldn't believe that his contemporaries were swept up in the monetary aspect of the game. Rather than succumbing to the lure of cash, Wolfe, just four months after he arrived, packed up and headed back to Boston. To complete his withdrawal from the frenetic art scene, he built a modest home/studio on some wooded land in Stoughton, where today -- at the age of 75 -- he continues to paint in tune with his own heart.

The current exhibition at the Danforth Museum of Art is an assembly of more than 30 paintings and drawings culled from the artist's personal collection, spanning several decades and styles. The canvases are large and filled with surprises, not the least of which is that many of them break away from the typical rectangular format. A blaze of assorted colors and intricate patterns populates circular works, diamond shapes, and great pinwheels. Renaissance, a four-foot-diameter circle with rectangular extensions, stands alone for its simplicity. The main configuration is a chrysanthemum-like ribbon of color extending outward from its center as if it had been drawn by a gigantic Spirograph.

Untitled Drawing and Jardin Central, which stand on point, are laden with stenciled grillwork patterns dispersed among areas of electric hues, while skinny snakes of color meander through the broad white spaces. Wolfe is not afraid to expand his painted surfaces by any means necessary. Both of his seven-foot-diameter assembled canvases, Balcony and Boundary Marker, look like large catherine wheel fireworks with long pointed tips pushing hot colors into space.

Throughout all of these works we are seduced by the subtle arrangements of color, the wide range of brushstroke, the patterns -- geometric, organic, free-form, and the occasional slice of actual wallpaper. Wolfe certainly has created his own manner of painting, which defies classification, but he still gives an occasional nod to action painter Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) and the dean of Abstract Expressionism, colorist Hans Hofmann (1880-1966).

Included with these large paintings, Wolfe is showing a dozen of his intimate figurative drawings for the first time. In a pencil-on-canvas portrait of Dorothy, Wolfe shows us an African-American woman rendered exquisitely and sparingly in a classic pose of self-assurance. But he seems unable to let the image remain secure and aloof, because for no apparent reason, a top-hatted bicyclist blithely emerges from behind folds in her dress.

It is just this tongue-in-cheek attitude, combined with his excellent draftsmanship and sure eye for color, that makes Wolfe's most significant work, A Hand in Life's Poker Game so captivating. This lavishly painted work consists of five 4x8' canvases, each representing a playing card. The 10 of Diamonds mimics his other geometric paintings with each diamond layered in pastel patterns. Jack of Clubs, composed in the typical playing card split image, is a dynamic self-portrait, brushes in hands, with Wolfe's twin white-bearded faces engineered with true cubist aplomb. The Queen of Hearts is a lovingly rendered double portrait of the artist's wife, Laurie. Here we see his interest in patterns brought to the nth degree. The pattern differences are obvious in the queen's headbands and cloaks, but the background embellishment is so subtle that we must almost press our noses to the canvas in order to discern the overlays. A skull with deep-set blue eyes peers out from The Ace of Spades and the final image, A Draw Card - Is It a King?, shows only a geometric pattern of blues and greens, its face turned to the wall. The hand is headed for a royal straight, riches or misfortune depend on that last card. But is this the artist's concern, or just ours?

The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Call 620-0050.