"Niagara Variations and the Movement of Water"
Chas. Davis
at
The Geisel Gallery
This month there is a wealth of exhibitions in the Rochester area that feature abstract art and I have written about two shows in this vein a few weeks ago, and now we have new contributions to the category to discuss. At the Geisel Gallery we have a dozen large paintings by Chas. Davis that can open your eyes to color in an almost geological manner. I use this analogy because many of the elements in these paintings have an opacity and form not unlike features you might find in Bryce Canyon - hot colors and towering forms. But it came as a surprise to me that Chas. Davis writes that these paintings are based on flowing waters and the geological aspect he was considering was that of the Niagara - even though there is nothing so specific or realistic in these large scale paintings.
"Improbable Landscape"
at
The Geisel Gallery
In some respects, I have a memory of paintings by the artist Friedel Dzubas who I knew at Cornell University when I was earning my MFA. His abstractions were also informed by a landscape space and his art made a strong impression on me when I was a student ( see below ). I think a large swath of color could be a hallmark of painters like Morris Louis and Friedel Dzubas and the paintings that Chas. Davis has on exhibition this month show a family resemblance to these earlier more formal abstractionists.
Friedel Dzubas
Speaking of formalists, the other new show in our area just opened in the Bevier Gallery and The Vignelli Design Center at R.I.T. - and it is one for a much more restrained sensibility. Gone is the landscape space, and in its place are compositions in paintings and prints by Norman Ives that focus on letters - bits of typography - that are cut up and collaged together, like a new form of cubism. One can sense the underlying grid in many of the works on display.
Norman Ives
at
The Vignelli Design Center and Bevier Gallery
at
Rochester Institute of Technology
Norman Ives was a multifaceted artist - creating paintings and prints, mostly based on the fragments of letters that he favored for their form and optical effects. Norman Ives also published portfolios of prints by other important artists like Romare Bearden, Piet Mondrian, Willem DeKooning, and Jacob Lawrence. During the mid 1950's Ives worked with designer Herbert Matter and together they created logos and branding for companies like the New Haven Railroad, and Knoll International.
Norman Ives ( 1923- 1978 )
Norman Ives' art creates complex positive and negative shapes - sometimes in black and white and other times in a rainbow of colors. Every edge is sharp and decisive. It almost goes without saying that he studied design with Josef Albers when he was a student at Yale University - and that had such a strong effect on him. You will have new found respect for the strength of letter forms and how they can be combined to make powerful statements in visual art that can stand the test of time.
Norman Ives
at
Rochester Institute of Technology
