Art view Paulette Thenhaus
Galex 43: The surprises
It's debatable whether the Galex 43 Competition/ Exhibition has
as much variety as past years but it does have its own surprises. The first of
which is that only twenty-seven artists were selected out of a lot of ninety.
Most of them showed two or more artworks. Juror Sean O'Harrow, Executive
Director of the Figge Museum, felt that fewer artists and more of their art
established the "integrity" of the work. The effect on the walls is
to create more of a gallery style look rather than a random competition look.
Other surprises can be found in the awards category. The Grand
Award was given to local artist Rob Reed for "Sound of Ice." It is a
massive alabaster carving. It's not surprising that it merits the best award
but it is surprising that there were only three sculptures shown this year.
The actual Sculpture Award went to "Orange Crusher"
by Evansville, Indiana artist Rob Millard-Mendez. It's a wooden mini
bulldozer/tank complete with bucket and topped with a machine gun. Bright
orange is its color. Does it crush oranges?
It's no surprise that Galesburg painter Carla Markwart got the
Merit Award, but it's not for her familiar representational style but rather
for her new direction ... vibrating color stripes within architectural shapes.
It's also surprising to have local artists win two major awards
in the Galex national. In fact, six artists from the immediate area are
represented ... very unusual. Among them were several photographers, including
Tom Foley, Galesburg, Roy Serpa, London Mills and Bridget Gray, London Mills.
Nature entered the show mainly through photography, notably Bridget Gray's
woodland and water imagery and Serpa's ocean images. D.K. Williams, Denver,
Colorado, "Redwoods and light" presents a view of a majestic forest.
Roy Drasites, Chapin, South Carolina, a former Galesburg
resident, won the Kent Leasure Memorial award. An odd surprise is that last
year he won the Grand Award for a very similar print ... not exactly the same,
but similar enough to make me look twice.
Surprisingly, many of the paintings are architectural and
hard-edged instead of loose and painterly. An example is the winner of the
Award of Excellence, Armin Mühsam, Maryville, Missouri, with a two-part
painting on wood. It and the corresponding two paintings are about the geometry
and perspective used in the building of architecture. All the lines are clean
and precise and the colors are muted.
The last prize winner, Marc Leone, Erlanger, Kentucky, won the
Purchase Award with "Crater 1919," graphite on paper. It’s mystery is
how the egg-shaped holes were created within a rondo shape. The organic shapes
seem to be pulsating in a large-scale petri dish.
A surprising crowd pleaser is a small painting by Mays Mayhew
of Bloomingdale, Illinois. "What the F2" is a realistic illustration
of an unpleasantly surprised young lady with a streak of red glitz flashing
past her. Viewers are intrigued by the technical proficiency and originality in
this small work. Sometimes gimmicky works!
So, though there are fewer artists selected to show, there is
still plenty to enjoy at the Galesburg Civic Art Center till April 11, 2009.
March 26, 2009