2007/08/09 VA Pilot Virginia Artists 2007
the virginian pilot 08.09.2007
“WE’RE ALL BOZOS ON THIS BUS,” MIXED-MEDIA SCULPTURE BY MONA MULLINS WILLIAMS
art ‘Virginia Artists 2007’ in Hampton
By Teresa Annas
The Virginian-Pilot
HAMPTON VIRGINIA ARTISTS 2007,” a juried exhibition at The Charles H. Taylor Arts Center, includes an especially large number of photographs and realistic paintings. Perhaps because of that, in a show that is uneven in quality, many of the finest works are in those categories.
A reason there are so many inspired photographers in this area may be the existence of a nationally noted photography program at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk.
One particularly talented shooter, Thomas Moore, is in charge of The Mariners’ Museum’s outstanding photography collection. He is represented in the show by two mysterious black-and white images of women alone in city settings. In one, a woman in a white coat descends into the dark abyss of a subway station.
The award of excellence went to Paul M. Stevens for his large grid of color photos of people riding an elevator. He cleverly used the glasswalled elevator as a frame.
The large number of naturalistic paintings might be due to the realist painting award sponsored by the gallery’s manager, James Warwick Jones, a respected painter in that genre.
The best of the lot, Bob Carlson, employs practiced craft in painting textures, light and atmosphere. His “Gate A-20,” a scene inside an airport waiting room, won the Hampton Arts Commission award and will go into the center’s collection.
The piece evokes realistic paintings of the 1970s that stressed modern architectural settings with reflective glass and sleek metal furniture and structures. As in many such paintings, Carlson’s figures are anonymous and isolated. Light pours in from the tall glass windows, but is no more hopeful or redemptive than in a melancholy Edward Hopper painting.
“GATE A-20,” OIL PAINTING BY BOB CARLSON
Among the many realist highlights: Rieneke Leenders’ 12 watercolor renderings of herself (“Self Portrait: I Am All of You”), each altered to make her resemble the women from many cultures she is known for portraying; and David Dodge Lewis’ pristine pairing of a dinosaur and a tulip in oil paint. It’s a kind of memento mori – a reminder of the inevitability of death that is often evoked in art – since one is extinct and the other is short-lived.
As to sculpture, Mona Mullins Williams won best in show for “We’re All Bozos on This Bus,” a piece featuring five female fetish figures – hourglass forms like those found in early, nature-centered cultures. The figures are displayed on hooks, like carcasses, and are made of natural materials – leather and fur and feathers.
Part of Williams’ prize is a solo show during next year’s juried exhibition. (Bernard Conda, a talented figure painter, won last year and earned this year’s one-man show.)
The 99 works in this show were chosen from 533 entries by Gina Covallo Collins, coordinator of statewide exhibitions for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. She also gave out $5,450 in awards.
Teresa Annas, (757) 446-2485, teresa.annas@pilotonline.com
if you go
What “Virginia Artists 2007 Juried Exhibition” and “Bernard Conda: Recent Paintings”
Where The Charles H. Taylor Arts Center, 4205 Victoria Blvd., Hampton
When 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 1 to 5 p.m. weekends; through Sept. 9.
Cost Free; (757) 727-1490, www.Hampton Arts.net
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