Various Artists
Lyons Matrix Gallery
through February 22
 Botanic Romantic by Robin Urton |
every gallery in town has decided to start ’97 with a fresh collection, which
makes this a truly delightful time for the faithful gallery-hopper.
For its first show of the year, Lyons Matrix took an interesting curatorial
approach; it asked each of its regular artists to select one work by another
artist of their choice. Hence “Significant Others,” a melange of pieces created
in varied styles by 15 artists. It’s quite a departure from the gallery’s usual
one- or two-person exhibitions.
One of the show’s most striking works is Robin Urton’s Botanic
Romantic. Urton uses oils on elaborate layers of plexiglass to portray a
woman’s reproductive system in contrast to that of a flower. The work is full
of metaphors involving reproduction and the biological clock, and their places
in nature. “It’s both about the fear of getting pregnant and the fear of never
getting pregnant,” Urton says. “It is a contemplation of reproduction, as well
as an idea of time.”
Directly across from Urton’s work is another piece that appears to represent
the female design. Michel L. Conroy’s excerpt from her “Nocturne Series” is a
long, vertical, blue wall hanging that comes to a point at the top and bottom;
in the middle, she has carved out a vertical space and filled it with large,
cracked eggshell-like pieces of porcelain. Within these cracked pieces are
messages written in an illegible scrawl. The entire piece is illuminated from
behind with a soft, glowing light. To me, the structure says “birth.”
“It is a female form,” Conroy explains, “but it’s also a boat form,
representing journey, travel, and transformation.” The porcelain represents
what is being held on the voyage, and the writings are confessional prayers
that Conroy intentionally left unreadable. “I like the idea of concealed
messages,” Conroy says.
Although birth, rebirth, and transformation were not suggested topics for this
show, their representations in such strong works seem fitting for a new year’s
exhibition.
Found Object Art
Various Artists
Laughing at the Sun Gallery
through February 22
One thing you can usually count on with a found object show is lots of work
filled with gizmos and gadgets that you see every day of your life but never
thought to include in a piece of art. This collection by more than 30 artists
has its fair share of one-person’s-trash-is-another-person’s-art, though it’s
not clear how the photographs and paintings constitute “found art,” which
usually consists of structural images made from random articles.
One artist whose work successfully hits the mark with found art, in all its
eccentric possibilities, is Dan Everitt. Everitt’s viewboxes made me feel like
a little girl, peering into little, mystical dollhouse-like worlds. Everitt
transforms cigar boxes, old clock frames, and whatnot into trinket-filled
treats. He appears to have an affinity for doll heads and watch parts, bringing
the two together in “Spring Baby,” a spring-limbed baby doll crowning one of
the viewboxes. His creations are similar to Sid’s bizarre inventions in Toy
Story, but without the evil element.
These are the kinds of works that make you think, “Oh, why did I throw out all
those old vacuum cleaner parts? I could have made a cool shadowbox out of
them!” That’s exactly what the gallery is trying to encourage with this show —
for people to look around and examine the artistic potential of any given
thing. Even old watch springs. — Cari Marshall
This article appears in January 24 • 1997 and January 24 • 1997 (Cover).