calendario eventi  :: 

X

9/12/2005

Art and Illusion

Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard

Selection from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation

"Works of art are not mirrors, but they share with mirrors that elusive magic of transformation which is so hard to put into words."-- E.H. Gombrich

This exhibition of painting, photography and sculpture celebrates artists' use of illusion and humor to create new ways of looking at the world. Organized by the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, the exhibition includes Postmodern, Photorealist, and Urban art. Over forty American and international artists are represented, including: Red Grooms, Joon-Sung Bae, Henrietta Barkham, Crash, Jose de Guimaraes, Anthony Green, Yrjo Edelmann, Sush Machida Gaikotsu, LA II, Srdjan Loncar, Greg Miller, Violise Lunn, Mark Sparks, and Robert Yarber.

A curtain of candy wrappers, a three-legged feline satyr, and a hot pink motorcycle installed in the galleries amid an array of realistic paintings and abstract works attests to Frederick R. Weisman's interest as an art collector in illusion. Illusion was to him a form of magical transformation that was the source of all true creativity. The exploration of abstract art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries did not negate artists' interests in illusion. They have rather continued to use various forms of realism and nonobjective art inventively to represent our world.

Some of the artworks on display show artists using incredible verisimilitude to produce illusion. New York artist Howard Kanovitz in The Sea with Green Reflection creates a canvas door looking out on the sea at sunset/sunrise. Charles Bell's trompe l'oeil painting Marbles XII magnifies a childhood toy into painted orbs. Redondo Beach artist, Candice Gawne has painted a Corridor that lures one into a hallway of doors.

Many of the works show artists using relatively contemporary materials to create illusion. Lia Menna Barreto of Brazil creates a floral floral relief from plastic mice. Lesley Dill enmeshes wire and dyed horsehair to depict a dress in Blue. Los Angeles artist Jessica Rath melts and sandblasts sheet plastic to composed a tableau of ghostly figures in Killing Poses. The Dutch photographer Marijke Van Warmerdam mounts a glossy hallucination of swans on aluminum. The exhibition's contemporary illusions illicit the age old responses of delight and amazement.

The late Frederick R. Weisman-- entrepreneur, philanthropist, and art collector -- believed that it was his meaningful obligation to give back to the public who helped enable his business success. With this aim, Mr. Weisman established in the mid-1980s both the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation and the Frederick R. Weisman Philanthropic Foundation. Now under the direction of Billie Milam Weisman, art historian and curator of this outstanding exhibition, and the boards of trustees, the Foundations continue to carry out Mr. Weisman's original mission of social and cultural contribution.

Image: Robert Yarber, Long Drop, 1985, oil & acrylic on canvas, 72 x 132 1/2 inches.
Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles.

Carnegie Art Museum
424 South C Street (next to Plaza Park) - Oxnard
Museum Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 10am-5pm, Sunday 1-5pm. Closed holidays
Admission 3 dollars. Museum members free

stampa

permanent link