By Vallo Riberto
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| Judith Christensen, NEW YORK BLINDS II |
Waiting
Room
is a richly appointed exhibition curated by Bonnie Domingos, with eighteen
artisans crafting an array of metaphorically, symbolic art objects that to one
degree or another make conceptual or representational references to the
exhibition’s theme, emotional and physical illness, suffering, healing
and wellness.
The
waiting room theme is the curator’s metaphor for; “those liminal spaces that
often invite introspection into our mental, emotional and physical worlds.”
Most
of the work in this show moves between representational imagery to abstractions
and conceptual and was created my members of the Allied Craftsmen of San Diego, with four exceptions,
Michelle Montjoy, Christian Garcia Olive, and collaborators Victoria Fu and
Matt Rich.
Judith Christensen, NEW YORK BLINDS II (above) is on the conceptual side and is a large installation of hanging, folded paper. A series of folded paper strips are meant to act as window treatments, and attached to the many folds are a long list of unrelated, autonomous proclamations and statements like: “The white lotus season finale..,” “ All vacations come to an end..,” “ California mega storm, a different Big One is approaching ..”, or, “Cheney goes down, and more results from last night.” Randomly culled from newspaper clippings, put together cut and pasted, William Burrows fashion, a linguistic cacophony, to be read in any order, but instead of a Naked Lunch, we’re presented with a Rear Window view of urbane communiques that will “affect our personal health and well-being and the well-being of the culture.” This work contains individual affirmations of trust and mistrust, anxiety ridden provocations, murder and mayhem, with an occasional, positive human interest story.
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| Linda Litteral, EVOCATIONS, 2022. |
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| Maggie Sasso and Adam John Manley, Mutually Assured, 2022 |
Maggie
Sasso and Adam John Manley, Mutually Assured, 2022. Mutually Assured from the
collaborative duo, is
a thought-provoking object “born out of the stacked personal and societal
anxieties of the past three years.” Mutually Assured is a
masterfully crafted wooden replica of a WW ll underwater “Naval” mine, decked
out with colorful, intricately woven warning flags, alerting viewers to the
object’s potential dangers. This work speaks volumes to the exhibitions theme -
the naval mine floats massively just
below the water’s surface - a perfect
metaphor for “the many festering threats” that challenge modern societies.
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| Warren Bakley, Disease, , 2022 |
Warren Bakley, Dominance, Destruction, Disease, and Death, 2022. Another work that aptly addresses the shows protocols is the very accomplished ceramic art with very powerful, stoneware, grouping of four, apocalyptic horsemen This work above, my personal choice, is titled Disease, 2020 as a reference to Covid. Excellently crafted and well conceived, the forms are muted in color, reinforcing their intended meanings. Disease, the hauntingly, ghostly grey rider - sophisticated simplicity with a chilling silent presence, and deceptively monumental in form. This modest sculpture could easily be scaled up for public art as a fitting tribute to the San Diegans who lost their lives to Covid 19. Formalistically the work reminds me of Rodin’s heroic portrait of Balzac in the sculpture garden of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
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| Victoria Fu and Matt Rich, Purple Potato and 13 Holes, 2022 |
Victoria
Fu and Matt Rich, Purple Potato and 13 Holes, 2022. In this
collaborative work, two large aprons are hung side by side, physically
connected by a thin, fabric, binding material that circumnavigates both aprons
before hanging to the sides of each object as binding ties for wearing. One of
the aprons takes the form of a house a child would draw, rectangular lower
portion with an A line roof. The lower portion has 13 large holes neatly cut
into it with other fabric elements and a plant frond attached loosely across
the openings. Ms. Fu’s Purple Potato is
simpler in appearance with only one pointer-like decoration. This work makes a rather obtuse reference to
domestic or institutional care giving and the aprons worn by medical researchers
in the lab.
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| Michelle Montjoy, Sweater. |
Michelle
Montjoy, Sweater. Montjoy is a well-known
San Diego artist and deeply respected for her knitted constructions Sweater
is classic Montjoy, completed a few years back.
You can almost feel the warmth and healing effects of this work.
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| Kathy Nida, Doctors Orders, 2023. |
Kathy
Nida, Doctors Orders, 2023. Nida created a large, and
powerful protest work of finely quilted images, admonishing the medical
profession for the way many of its practitioners handle certain women’s cases,
especially women of color and women trapped in a cycle of poverty. Nida’s fierce protagonist encircles her arms
in a protective stance around a group of women, keeping them out of harm’s way
from the menacing hands of a male doctor who is insensitive to the real needs
and care of the women. This work skillfully illustrates the impact of the
curator’s message about health and wellness and long, emotional periods in the
waiting room.
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| Polly Jacobs, Giacchina, 2023. |
Polly Jacobs, Giacchina, 2023. Jacobs created a wall relief of four open weave, nest-like forms that represent security in all of its various manifestations; safety, shelter and protection, absolute necessities for the healing process.
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| Gail Schneider, Tundra, 2023. |
Gail Schneider, Tundra, 2023. The artist states “A response to the problem of Global Warming, I have made these pieces of white brick to give the pieces a permanence that does not exist in nature but is a material with artistic and ancestral importance in human life” Tundra represents the curious forms of snow covered trees in the arctic region. Moderate in scale these art objects express a monumental quality.
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| Kathleen Mitchell, Chrysalis, 2022. |
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| Charlotte Bird’s, Wonder. |
Charlotte Bird’s, Wonder. Shinrin-yoku or "forest bathing” is
a stress reduction strategy to slow down. This strategy lies at the heart
of lovely, memory book Wonder an accordion fold book with mixed media
images of rocks and stones collected on the artist’s forays into the
arctic wilderness.
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| Richard Burkett, TheCure 1 , The Cure 2 |
Richard Burkett, TheCure 1 , The
Cure 2. Mounted on two, thick, saw toothed
shelves are a series of three each, small Ceramic and found vessels with
ornate luster glazes and surface treatments referencing the high cost of
medical research and treatment.
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| Ross Stockwell, 2D-3D, 2023 |
Ross Stockwell, 2D-3D, 2023 is a finely crafted walnut, ash and
canary wood sculpture. “A 3D interpretation of a 2D logo for Sarah’s Kitchen, a
vegetarian restaurant.” 2D-3D is representative of the more
abstract interpretations of the curator’s title, and we must assume the
intention here is good health through good eating.
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| Christian Garcia Olivo, Untitled White on Pearlescent Green, 2020 |
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| Christian Garcia Olivo, Untitled White on Nacreous, 2020 |
Christian Garcia Olivo, Untitled White on Pearlescent Green and Untitled White on Nacreous both from 2020. Intricately woven strands of thin, white acrylic pigment and yes, you read it correctly, (woven acrylic pigment!). These works are totally abstract in style and therefore the most difficult to read in relationship to the exhibition's theme of wellness. The only clue we are given in the artist’s statement: “Within history, marginalized groups and forms of art have been “recognized,” brought to the surface and semi “liberated” but still controlled/manipulated to maintain a categorical identity. This tension is a powerful reminder that in understanding ourselves and the surrounding world we must question our own understanding, perception, and true reality.”
Waiting Room
Central
Library Gallery
9th Floor, 330 Park Blvd.,
San Diego, CA 92101
OnView@sandiego.gov
Mon/Tues: 1 – 7pm
Wednesday/Thurs/Fri: 12 - 5pm
Saturday: 12 - 5pm Sunday: closed
Vallo Riberto is the Alliance Studio Visit Program Chair, a support
group of the Oceanside Art Museum. He is an Independent
curator, Oceanside Museum of Art, and the Bonita Museum of
Art and Culture, the Zone Contemporary Art Gallery, Osaka, Japan and is on the
Exhibition Advisory Committee, San Diego Public Library Gallery
valloriberto@gmail.com 619.603.2214
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