January 27, 2005
Science and Art Collide in Westby
Tom Caiazza
Henry Mandell has a digital mind. His is a world of
technology, of discovery, of science and of pattern. But most of all it is a
world of art. Mandell joins fellow artists
Housed in the Westby Gallery through February 25, "Drawing Networks"
fuses the aesthetic beauty of the cosmic world with its own abstractness,
bringing it to a medium accessible to the common eye.
The exhibit showcases more than a dozen works by the three artists ranging in
scope and size but always being grounded in the abstract beauty and inherent
understanding of science, astronomy, the universe and other endeavors of man.
Mandell's work focuses deeply on process, and is an
entirely technological approach to creativity. He uses downloaded texts of
weather reports, conditions and the like and inputs them into the Adobe
Illustrator program. The
In his piece "Nagual 12,"Mandell has
altered the way we look at the text so much that is nearly impossible to make
out the original statements. It forces the viewer to look beyond the words
themselves and into the abstract meaning of what they are saying. For all we
know the statement could have been about something so benign as a low-pressure
system, but the finished product resembles a tornado of ink and paper so
disorganized, so chaotic that patterns begin to emerge. The viewer is allowed
to come full circle and see the piece in a distinctly more significant way.
"Filament 7" is a distinctly different piece with the same basic
process. This time Mandell's choice in words is not
so indecipherable. Using a font that resembles a New York Times masthead, he
layers only a small amount of the same statement, just enough to obscure it,
but not enough to disguise the shape of the characters. "Filament 7"
has a uniquely lyrical quality and melodic foundation. It is almost like many
voices singing the same melody in slightly different keys. The result is a
piece comprised of dissonance and beauty that is fluid and staggered at any
given time.
Karen Margolis and
Margolis uses layer and space to create a uniquely different style of art. Much
of her work consists of sinewy, intersecting lines connecting in ways as to
resemble visual expressions of energy. Those lines are drawn on translucent
paper and placed over opaque paper with similar, complimentary lines over it.
The result is two unique shapes: one blurred, the
other clear. They appear as if one was peering through a telescope at two
objects in space along the same plane but separated by light years of space.
Lee's work follows a similar path, uniting the universe with the finite
precision of art. Her "Transformation Scroll II" resembles a giant
star chart and stretches up the wall and several feet on the floor. Points of
paint are connected with linelike constellations and
the unique brush strokes illicit ideas of stars exploding with light. The work
is so familiar to the viewer that it looks similar to what we all see when we
close our eyes in an illuminated room as the last of the light flows through
our eyes.
"Transformation Scroll II" is like a snapshot of the ever-changing
energy in our mind's eye.
"Drawing Networks" is open to the public free of charge, and the
opening reception will be held today from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Westby Gallery.
The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.