Kristine Bouyoucos
"Interplay"
at the Geisel Gallery, Rochester, NY
The warmer weather will bring out the greenery this spring and the flowers that were planted last fall. It will also bring out new artwork from the studios of some seasoned artists and we are all graced with their presence. The Geisel Gallery in the old Bausch & Lomb headquarters building in downtown Rochester, N.Y. - never looked better. The trio I speak of are the artists Kristine Bouyoucos, Barbara Fox, and Sue Huggins Leopard and each one of them has a specialty highlighted in this show. For Sue Leopard that would be book arts, for Kristine Bouyoucos that would be printmaking, and Barbara Fox is the painter.
Barbara Fox, the Peresephone Series
at the Geisel Gallery
Barbara Fox, not to be confused with the Barbara Fox now showing at the Oxford Gallery ( see my previous post ) seems to enjoy a more improvised painting style here, in these paintings called "The Peresephone Series". It is appropriate that the paintings reflect some of the characteristics attributed to the mythical Peresephone including some Vegetation, and elements of which shoot forth in the spring. Barbara also repeats her name in one of the paintings, tempting the viewer to sound out the syllables.
Sue Huggins Leopard
at the Geisel Gallery
Book arts as practiced by Sue Huggins Leopard is as full of literary amplitude as it is of visual and tactile signs. There are some interesting light effects ( like the white single story house with its bluish tones lit from inside ). The folded pages of her books offer tantalizing clues as to the content of these artfully produced editions - the direction of this intimate artform is within.
Book Arts at The Geisel Gallery, Rochester, NY
Kristine Bouyoucos has been making prints based on a music theme for almost ten years, and she sometimes reproduces passages of a score and sometimes pairs it with images of the instruments for which the music was intended. Often the composer is celebrated and the prints are a kind of visual collage or texture that weaves color and meaning in a delightful yet formal manner.
Tarrant Clements at Warren Phillips Fine Art & Frame
in the Hungerford Building, Rochester, NY
A few blocks away, I attended a solo performance for visual art by a friend whose work I have collected for a number of years. I first came across Tarrant Clements when I attended a Monday night workshop in printmaking lead by Elizabeth K. Durand. Tarrant was a regular at the workshop and I was attracted to her solidly colorful forms, and the witty, often unusual compositions she made which were always abstract yet seemingly full of meaning.
Paintings by Tarrant Clements
at Warren Phillips
The compositions are often like a physical slapstick, that is- there seems to be a cause and affect happening in a painting or a sculpture by Tarrant Clements. She has an unusual voice in her work that I relate to Alexander Calder. She takes formal elements and gives them a specific character - you could say these are abstracts with personality. Another artist comes to mind when I think of Tarrant's work, and that is the Expressionist painter William Baziotes. I think Tarrant and Baziotes share an interest in a surreal manifestation of color, form and individualism as evidence by this show called "You Can't Pin Me Down"
Tarrant Clements' sculpture
in
"You Can't Pin Me Down"
If you want to have a fine art experience take yourself out for the trio and stay for the solo,
you won't regret it!
