This exhibition is the second in a two part series addressing the theme of the monumental. Works included in this installment will focus on three-dimensional works while still featuring other disciplines.
Six artists are included… Jonathan Cross (Ceramics), Linnea Glatt (Fabric), Terrell James (painting), Tom Orr (Sculpture), Richard Serra (Printmaking), and Jay Shinn (LED Projection). The different approaches will be highlighted in this exhibition; especially in regards to what constitutes a sculpture.
Jonathan Cross’ two works included in Monumenal II are his largest works to date. His modular floor pieces will measure approximately 12” x 48” x 38” and is comprised of four units stacked in a manner which establishes a rhytmic pattern. The work is made of rough hewn red clay which is wood fired in his desert kiln outside of Joshua Tree, California.
Glatt continues to explore the idea of progression, sequence, and order through a sculptural application. These latest works considers patterns, whether that is through inverting, reversing, opposing, and comparing components.
Terrell James’s large painting Retinue evokes both human form and landscape. Inspired by sources as diverse as Degas bathers, Japanese landscape scrolls, and Inuit women’s land paintings from the 1990’s, James suggests bent torsos, distant hills, smooth boulders throw off intense colors. Congregating reds, pinks and yellows are pushed back by tonal shifts in early ochre washes and blue violet shadows. Though these masses suggest weight, they also seem to float.
STAIRS comes from Orr’s reoccurring interest in common elements of architecture taken out of context. By isolating a familiar architectural element, such as a set of stairs, and changing its scale and perspective, it transforms into a stand-alone sculpture.
Richard Serra, well known worldwide for his monumental metal sculptures has now garnered an equally impressive track record with his large scale prints. Typically he is pushing the medium to its limits, along with Gemini G.E.L. he developed a unique approach manipulating oil stick providing him with his desired texture, and conveying a sense of weight. The work included here is from a group of related one-color-etchings at Gemini G.E.L. in 2009.
Jay Shinn’s combination of wall painting and projected imagery allows his work to exist in a very large scale; his recent commision for Houston Intercontinental Airport measures 15’ x 150’. The site specific work he has created for Monumental II (12’ x 13’) continues his play of tension between flatness and illusion, rooted in his west coast sensibility and kinship to the light and space movement. The projected component of this installation cycles through 24 different interations of color patterns.