acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 30"x30", 2007. |
After a stint in New York City finding initial success in commercial photography, 24-year-old Julie Kuceris decided her Rhode Island School of Design education was more useful elsewhere. Portland, with its small but perpetually burgeoning art scene, seemed like the right place to set up shop.
Four Walls Gallery means to introduce emerging artists to collectors and, judging from “Preface: An Inaugural Exhibition,” that means artists over thirty are yesterday’s news. Kuceris is not actually discriminating based on age; the artwork for this first show is supplied by good friends, college acquaintances, and Kuceris’s blooming friends-of-friends network spanning New York and New England. The oldest exhibiting artist clocks in at the tender age of 26.
“I enjoy the energy young artists bring to their work. It’s easier for me to relate to these artists, and that means a necessary dialogue between artist and gallery,” says Kuceris from behind her white desk and white computer within the four white walls of the space. She’s definitely got the look of the place down.
| "Preface: An Inaugural Exhibition" | at Four Walls Gallery, 564 Congress St, Portland | Tues-Sat 11 am-6 pm | 207.221.3426 |
As for the art on display, that aforementioned energy is evident in the range of styles and media offered by five artists.Long Island-based Matthew Mahler paints with rough brushstrokes and a Fauvist color palette. He arranges organic, curving forms, geometric shapes, and textile patterns in a groundless space. The composition suggests an impulsive style, quick and emotional. Titles like “Re-awakening” and “Clarity in February” help confirm the works are steeped in the psychological. Larger canvases with acrylic and postcard-sized gouache pieces exemplify the artist’s depth of process.
Brian Rochefort’s sculptures are oozing regurgitated amalgams of pop culture. Deep celestial reds and blues are applied with latex paint onto terracotta and earthenware forms and then covered with stars, stripes, portraits, graffiti, and glitter. The heterogeneity ends up working, much like a functioning urban landscape, but two of Rochefort’s pieces break from the noisy pack to great effect. “Singularity” maintains the globular motif but is painted only in a shimmering blue-to-green enamel, letting the form stand on its own as an expression of shape; “Zeus_28” is illusively liquid, playfully dripping down its supportive pedestal. With stylish red and gold stripes repeating over its surface, the smaller shape is more arresting than its counterparts.
Dark, desolate, and monochromatic, the landscapes of Michael Medel send mixed messages. Silver paint is brushed into mountainous land masses to add an artificial sheen. Perhaps the artist is commenting on the oft-abused practice of painting landscapes, sometimes more industry than art. According to the gallery, the artist has never seen a mountain in real life but instead paints from computer-generated images used in video games. The potential for exploring the simulacrum holds promise, but the paintings feel like childhood tempera projects to an unconvincing end. We’ll likely see more variance in his solo show at Four Walls next month.
Emily Jahn’s lithographs hold up the more illustrative end of the broad range of approaches in the exhibition. “Dogfight” is a small piece with a violent subject, suggesting a darker side of the usually domesticated best friend of man emerges and repressed human ferocity.
Leeane Williams works in pen and ink with a professional, graphic line. Black and white renderings with orange accents depict caricatured women emerging from fantastical forms to cuddle with alligators and the like. The work is inventive and pleasing to the eye, but leans in a commercial direction — not surprising (or condemnable) given the artist’s day job, designing video game characters.
Zoe Dalis rounds out the show’s variety with her happy-accident photography. In the four “Untitled Moving Landscapes,” beaches and lakes are transformed into meditations of texture and pattern through motion of the lens, double exposures, and reflections. Ocean surf is relegated to the horizon to make room for the fascinating repetition of stones dotting the strand.
It is an exciting prospect to bolster downtown attention of young artists, be they natives or visitors. The city can introduce itself to young minds that have little need to be concerned with geographical distance, and they can inject some new ideas into our sometimes provincial town.
On the Web
Four Walls Gallery: www.fourwallsgallery.com
Email the author
Ian Paige: ianpaige@gmail.com
