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As seen in...
Big Ideas
The best-laid plans of frescoes and cast glass sometimes
go astray
By Theo Douglas
Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 3:00 pm
When JoAnne Artman made the mistake of asking her painter
if anyone else had ever had him do the interior walls of their
house—and art gallery—in bright, colliding, tropical
shades, he said no. Just the Colombians. Then, one imagines,
he shifted the unlit cigar he was champing on from one side
of his mouth to the other and gave her the “crazy”
sign by twirling a hairy index finger next to his ear. Which
would have been funny, but Artman says it didn’t happen
that way—and this time, the Colombians were right. They
were due; it’s been since the ’70s, that other
time they were right, with the white stuff that makes you
stay up all night and have better-looking sex with better-looking
people.
Blaringly sunny
shades of pink and blue are just what’s needed to balance
Artman’s current show, a mash-up of “Connected,”
Gary Simpson’s somewhat lugubrious abstract frescoes,
and Leslie Davis’ aloof glass sculptures. The walls
warm your mind, while what hangs on them tries to make you
think deep and important thoughts.
* * *
A big, burly guy,
Gary Simpson also has huge ideas. He’s
currently collecting dirt samples from spots around the world,
to use in a large-scale soil painting of many canvases that
could someday hang in a place like the United Nations, Artman
says. This plan sets you up perfectly for his best piece here:
an untitled but very direct entry in his recent Disparity
Series, which examines the state of the world
in murky organic shades of paint and statistics. Across the
bottom of the huge canvas, Simpson carefully added a strip
of paper that reads sideways, listing the nations of the world
and the percentages of their populations with AIDS. In Afghanistan,
which appears near the left corner of the canvas, only 0.01
percent of the population—or 2,993 people—has
the disease. Here in the U.S., of course, the toll is monstrous;
0.60 percent of the population (which sounds wrong), or 1,774,405
people, is listed as infected. The numbers are courtesy of
CIA World Facts, it says, and as such are somewhat suspect—given
the agency’s recent stand on allowing Matt Damon to
continue making films—but they cast a chilly pall over
Simpson’s indistinct dark shapes in green and maroon.
The work’s explanation says he also used shredded dollar
bills and brass rod in the canvas—but that wretched
column of numbers keeps your mind on the sordid subject at
hand
* * *
Leslie
Davis’ works—a series of cast-glass sculptures,
and two blown vases—couldn’t be more different,
both from Simpson’s frescoes and from each other. First
visible are a handful of her cast-glass sculptures—none
of which would be out-of-place in the zen room of an Orange
County Philharmonic design house. Outside View is one of these.
A half-inch-thick sheet of opaque glass roughly 12-by-24 inches
pierced with periodic star-shaped cutouts, it’s suspended
upright in a metal framing that’s vaguely Arts &
Crafts style. We’re guessing it’s titled this
way because you can see through it—possibly outside—but
Davis’ true intent here, as with her other sculptures,
is never revealed. In a corner of the showroom, Geisha is
another cast-glass sheet, this one with a downward arrow shape
indented and a splotch of reddish-maroon color embedded at
the top. But as a geisha? Not as fun as the ones who laugh
at your jokes (and let your eel spit in their cave).
Much tastier
to our plebian palate were two small vases tucked away in
the corner next to the Geisha. Both shone with craftsmanship
and hours of work: Vineyards Brew, a simple burgundy shape,
wore an aged copper collar of copper grape leaves. Next to
it, Kyoto Autumn looked almost plain—almost. It’s
a grass green, with an attached black glass base—and
just a dab of silvery crackle finish on the side. Perfect
for cherry blossoms. Could you make that?
WORKS
BY GARY SIMPSON AND LESLIE DAVIS, AT SPACE ON SPURGEON, 210
N. SPURGEON ST., SANTA ANA, (949) 464-0105, WWW.SPACEONSPURGEON.COM.
OPEN FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH AND BY APPOINTMENT. THROUGH
JANUARY. FREE.
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