Artist's REVIEWS
The New York Times, Sunday, November
12, 1995, By Helen A. Harrison
Juried Shows Add New Ingredients
to Old
20th Annual Juried Fine Arts Exhibition
Adding new ingredients to the old recipe
is one of the advantages of juried shows. Louise Weinberg, winner of
the top awards and Helmut Amann with the second prize were previously
unknown to this writer.
Ms. Weinberg's incised copper panels use
anatomical details and text to explore issues of emotion and communication.
Her prize-winning piece, "Messages received by the Sense of Touch,"
includes a statement in sign language, while the other, " Where His
Heart was," replaces the organ with a written message.
In contrast to this subjectivity, Mr. Amann's
two "Crystal Spheres of the Heavens" reliefs are studies in objective
geometry. His formal constellations arranged in groupings on the wall,
use bands of color to create the illusion of slatted structures on what
are actually planar elements. Cool and precise, Mr. Amann's work engages
the mind more fully than the senses.
For sensual stimulation, turn to L. B.
Volle's "Reef," a wax panel with outlined shapes embedded in its surface.
Like the coral polyps that they resemble, the layered forms seem to
float in a realm that is at once alien and inviting. The same might
be said of Sue Palmisano's amusingly titled oil "Venus Envy No. 2,"
a portrait of lush plant life that beckons seductively while looking
disconcertingly carnivorous.
Another outstanding oil, Bogdan Dumitrica's
"If We Can Hear the Bells," gives equal weight and presence to four
different types of bells. This handsome and deceptively simple work
is rich with metaphorical possibilities. James Cook's "Gran," a sculpture
of cloche and amplifier shapes that also sends mixed messages, complements
it.
Two archetypal ceramic figures by James
Corbett represent the king and queen of tantrum lore. The presences
recall Max Ernst's treatment of a similar theme.