Art Talk
Unravelling Balls of Cheap Twine into Sublime Paintings
Art reviews from art critics Edward Goldman and Hunter Drohojowska-Philp.
By Edward Goldman • • 4m ListenUnraveling Balls of Cheap Twine into Sublime Paintings
In the politically incorrect times of yesteryear, little boys were expected to play with toy trucks and guns, while nice little girls cooed over their lovely Barbie dolls. Growing up, the boys were expected to get dirty playing football, while girls learned to dance, to play the piano, to cook, to paint watercolor landscapes, and let's not forget the ultimate ladies' skill: embroidering and weaving. And then, the world as we knew it came to an end---women burned their bras and started to use blowtorches to weld metal sculptures, while some men achieved fame by stitching together fuzzy stuffed toy animals.
With that in mind, a visit to the Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Bergamot Station can be a total delight in encountering the art of James Richards, who knows a thing or two about weaving and stitching, mixing things up, turning them inside out and then splashing some paint on top. In his third show at the gallery, this L.A.-based artist has come with the most sophisticated and refined paintings of his career, while holding onto the threadbare essence of his rather unique art making. Imagine the raw wooden frame of a rectangular stretcher bar, usually hidden behind the canvas. And now, look at this two-to-three-inch wide lumber frame without the canvas and try to figure out how on earth anyone could make a painting out of it.
James Richards
"Step into Surface"
December 11, 2004-January 22, 2005
Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Avenue
Santa Monica, CA
Tel. 310-453-7535