Mojo’s
through December
Through sleepy, half-open eyes, I ordered a coffee from the cute, scruffy guy
behind the counter. I ambled over to a table and took a seat. After a moment of
gathering my thoughts, I looked up, surprised to see an eight-foot tall steel
sunflower towering over me.
Matthew Feiner’s Jack and the Beanstalk-esque flower stands with sunny
resplendency in a corner of the coffee shop. It looks to have been quite an
endeavor: Eight heart-shaped leaves, made from sheets of copper and steel, are
screwed to the steel pipe stem. The leaves get bigger as they ascend to the
flower’s top, which is made of what appears to be a circular, yellow broom
head, like what’s on the bottom of those electric floor cleaners you see
janitors in office buildings use. A couple dozen copper and steel petals dart
out from the broom center. This all is attached to a base made of painted
bricks. A few real leaves rest on the base, like the whole thing actually
sprouted up from the earth, and the flower’s slight lean makes it look like it
has been swaying in the wind.
Feiner’s style switches gears from one mixed-media piece to the next, moving
from funky to creepy to cheery. One Audrey Hepburn collage has a distinctly
Warholian twang to it, and 5 Icon Curse is a leaf-covered shrine of
sorts, with huge key holes through which to view shadowbox-like images. But
none are as complementary with coffee first thing in the morning as the deluxe
flower.
Sculpture by Selma Burke
AMOA Downtown
through Jan. 5
 |
day, but you don’t realize it. You’ve probably never even heard of her. Indeed,
her most famous sculpture — the bust of Franklin Roosevelt that appears on
U.S. dimes — is known by practically everyone, but few people are
familiar with her 70-year-long career as a sculptor.
Not that this exhibit will give you all-encompassing knowledge of Burke and
her sculptures — it’s a small show, fewer than 10 pieces — but it does give a
glimpse at the work of a strong, resilient woman whose life has been
remarkable, both as an artist and as a woman.
Living in New York in the 1920s after completing nursing school, Burke
pursued her dream of becoming a sculptor and became a part of the New York art
scene. These accomplishments alone are extraordinary for a black woman at this
time, but that is only the beginning of her achievements. Through the years,
Burke has been awarded numerous fellowships and scholarships, and a Ph.D. from
Columbia at age 70. She founded two art schools, and has exhibited worldwide.
This collection contains one piece from almost every decade of her career. The
oldest is “Red Torso,” circa 1920’s, a small, headless, female nude made of
smooth, red stone. It’s a beautiful, simple study, representative of her
student days. The pieces get somewhat more complex as the years progress, of
course, but they always retain a realistic simplicity. “Shame,” a small bronze
from 1965, is a woman in a flowing dress cloaking her sorrow-filled face with
her long, sinewy arms. Its smooth, soft edges convey an almost a liquid
movement, a characteristic found in many of her pieces. All the works here are
of females, and her style is distinctly soft, feminine and sensitive. It’s
ironic that her most famous work is of a man.
— Cari Marshall
This article appears in January 3 • 1997 and January 3 • 1997 (Cover).