New Spaces: The Nelson
The Richard L. Nelson Gallery and Fine Art Collection at
Davis has more than tripled the square footage of exhibition space, offering
greater possibilities for displaying concurrent shows. As the birthplace of the
Funk Movement, Davis was positioned as a major artistic center during the 60s
and 70s. This creative activity laid a solid foundation for the visual arts in
the Central valley, which continues to resonate to this day. In celebration of
the new space, a number of accomplished artists are displayed, showcasing in
particular the legacy of the Davis Five: Arneson, Neri, Wiley, Thiebaud, and de
Forest.
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| Wayne Thiebaud, Trophy Table, oil on canvas, 1954 |
One exciting probability is how early works reveal some
interesting surprises. An unexpected find is a Wayne Thiebaud painting from
1954, Trophy Table. The composition
involves unclear objects in muted tones. There is rigidity in the brushwork,
making the forms tense and unstable. Nonetheless, these are valued objects and
there is an attempt to animate them, give them vibrancy. Moreover, there is
evidence of the present Thiebaud: His gravitation towards rich color is seen in
this painting by the curious use of fugitive silver paint.
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| William T. Wiley, Hide as a State of Mind, lithograph, 1971 |
Another pleasure for the eyes is Hide as a State of Mind, a lithograph by Wiliam T. Wiley from 1971. However,
Wiley simultaneously delights and frustrates. The surface objectively pleases
the visual senses although the subject may be disturbing or obscure. Wiley
presents a cartographic image that may suggest a route, a destination, but
there is nowhere to go. The map is bisected by a range pole offering two
polarized options: an iceberg or a desolate mountain. The startled figure in
the lower right obstructs a warning: “God only knows what we we’re exp...ing,”
exposing? expecting? perhaps exploding? The viewer is left to her/his wits, to
question reality, our environment, our world and ourselves. Wiley not only
visually stimulates but also critically challenges his viewer.
A sculptural work that challenges the viewer in other ways
is Glass Bell by Paul Kos
from 1991. It involves a fairly rudimentary design using sheets of glass
separated by small wooden blocks. The glass is marked with silkscreened circles
varying their positions from sheet to sheet creating the visual illusion of a
bell. The viewer becomes participant in moving around the sculpture, observing
how the bell alludes to a three dimensional form. As the viewer squats to eye
level with the sheets, the bell disappears. This playful deception of space
induces us to rethink our presumptions, exemplifying how art offers alternative
and fascinating ways to perceive our world.
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| Paul Kos, Glass Bell (detail), mixed media, 1991 |
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| Glass Bell (detail) |
New Generations: Jason Caldera
The first public showing of Jason Caldera’s work accounts
for a number of elemental concerns—exhibiting for the first time, entrepreneurialism
in the art world, the science of painting, a genealogical retrospective—and to
tackle them all in one sitting is quite admirable. Out of passion for the arts
and interest in exposure, Caldera organized his cohorts in the
multidisciplinary studio spaces on P and 21st to host their first Open Studio.
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| Jason Caldera, A not so obvious metaphor for the three states of consciousness: Past, Present, Conditional, oil on canvas, 2011 |
The three sizable panels completed this year titled, A
not so obvious metaphor for the three states of consciousness: Past, Present,
Conditional served as a point of entry to
Caldera’s work. Using additional mediums and solvents to manipulate his oils,
Caldera created translucent varnishes of primary colors, laying one over
another without mixing, allowing the eye to observe the layers and the optical
blending. Textures, ridges, marks, all contribute to the visual color-play on
the vast canvases. Past contains
a red veil of downward strokes, broken by swift vertical cuts, Present is a haze of colorful cloud formations, ending with Conditional, which repeats elements from the previous two.
Curiously, there is an interruption in this third panel by a group of arrows or
fossilized fish, suggestive of cave painting. In A not so obvious metaphor what
becomes obvious is the life principle of progress; there is an interest in progression
when going into the unknown, nonetheless marked by the possibility of cycling
and returning to the beginning.
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| Jason Caldera, Open Windows, 2005 |
Notwithstanding, there is a freshness in beginnings.
Caldera’s earlier works demonstrates a diligence that can be admired. Open
Windows is a canvas from 2005 that gives
evidence of his eye for color, interest in perception, and compositional
development. This was the last painting completed where Caldera used “semi-dry
paint layers to create a sense of false perspective.”[1] By using relatively
pure pigments, Caldera exploited the advancing and receding effects brought
about by color interaction. Moreover, Caldera honed in a skill for patterns,
finding comfort in seriality as a rhythmic interplay that is instinctively
followed by the eye and induces an aesthetic response.
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| Open Windows, 2005 |
These paintings neatly summarize the consistency in
Caldera’s work, however, not only in its formalism and essential concepts, but
they also served as an autobiographical introspection. As a fundamental
influence in his work, Caldera organized a modest posthumous retrospective of
his grandfather, Frederick ‘Bill’ Carmen who recently past this last November.
Born in 1925, Bill Carmen was a skilled draftsman with a passion for whimsical
color. It is clear how Carmen was instrumental in the development of Caldera’s
painting. One distinct work on paper shares visual similarities to Wiliam T.
Wiley’s Hide as a State of Mind, without
the despairing criticism. An amorphous form in blue tones and delicate ink
drawing appears as an explosion of instruments minutely rendered amongst
abstract forms and music notes. Carmen’s intimate composition is a celebration
of the auditory and visual senses. Likewise, the evening served as a delightful
crossroads of generations through a celebration of art.
[1] Event pamphlet, 01/31/2011.
