On exhibit at the Blaffer Gallery, Electric Mud investigates the relationship between paint and mud: the boundaries that separate each from the other, as well as the likeness that continues to keep them together.
Open since Jan. 17, Electric Mud features the work of six Californians, artists Brian Calvin, Ron Nagle, Michael Reafsnyder, James Richards, Anna Sew Hoy and Patrick Wilson.
Upon entering the Blaffer Gallery, the first works seen are Hoy’s multidimensional pieces hanging on the wall. One piece, titled Clasp, resembles a coat hook and even has a towel hanging from it. Another piece has an electrical cord dangling from it. Hoy’s pieces take the mundane – a towel, a cord – and integrate it into a new piece that is different and jarringly unique.
Each of Hoy’s pieces on display demonstrates the ‘mud’ aspect of the exhibit – everyday items, as normal and as dull as mud. However, they are transformed through a new, more exciting usage, ‘electrifying’ the ‘mud.’
Along the wall to the left of Hoy’s works is Richards’s work, consisting of three large wooden frames, covered in erratically arranged string and paint. Stapled to the frames, the string is a tangled mess. Over the string are gobs of paint, also crazily arranged.
‘Richard’s art work represents the basic elements of a painting,’ Blaffer docent and UH alumnus Matthew Glover said.
This stimulating display of simple items makes the frames stand out as more than just string and paint. They are lively in their vibrancy and simplicity.
Along another wall are three large Jackson Pollock-like paintings by Reafsnyder. Each piece has a specific color scheme and the paint is splattered and poured, smeared and squiggled so thickly that at times it seems to extend off the canvas towards the viewer. Hidden in each of his paintings is a smiley face that peeks out amidst the thick lines of paint.
Reafsnyder also displays some glazed ceramic sculptures. These pieces resemble the clay sculptures elementary students proudly take home to their parents, crudely done and colorfully painted, but each piece speaks to the simplicity of clay or ‘mud,’ that the exhibit attempts to explore.
Nagle’s art is comprised of ceramics that resemble everyday objects. The mind attempts to make them look like coffee mugs and irons, but they resist due to enough differences to not make sense.
Calvin’s works are simple, glorified cartoons that are plain to the point of perfection. Wilson’s pieces are large, rectangular paintings so perfect that it seems only a computer could have created them. Simple squares and rectangles in bright colors, the works resemble Rothko’s, but more angular and defined than Rothko’s pieces ever were.
The purpose of the exhibit is to show how the most mundane of objects, the ‘mud,’ can be transformed and electrified. The exploration of the similarities between paint and clay are also examined, especially with Richards’ and Reafsnyder’s pieces – the paint is so thick it looks like clay someone splattered on the canvas, across the crazy string.
Electric Mud will be on display at the Blaffer Galley through Mar. 29.’
