Judy Sarup is a copywriting intern at our brand strategy and creative services firm Project X Media. She likes art. She likes to write. She gets to review.
“Streets” is the current mixed-media show running at Project X: Art, through mid-December, featuring works by Greg Boudreau, stencil artist who paints on wood; Daniel Thedell, painter; and Robert Gruber, photographer. In essence, this show is a mini-museum exhibit of modern works created by artists conversant in forerunner popular art movements.
Get your “wow” factor here.
At first glance, GREG BOUDREAU’s pictures are all about geometric shapes, and bright colors with some muted areas. He creates multi-layered acrylic spray paint stencils on frames constructed of salvaged wood, for his works. Each piece in the collection looks like it began life as a photograph, and that Boudreau then superimposed a painted interpretation atop it.
The vertical edges of the wood strips become part of the pictures themselves, as they mirror painted geometric objects, generating movement as they direct the eye horizontally to capture the work in its entirety. Robert Rauschenberg’s (“Combines” and Neo-Dada style of the 1950s) style has influenced Boudreau.
Do I see movie stills here?
These vertical lines seem to break the pictures up into stills that complete the “story” once the eye has completed horizontal movement from left to right. Each picture is a visual collection, of sorts—each vertical strip provides, in effect, a bird’s eye view of the whole, courtesy of the consistent geometric mirroring through Boudreau’s works.
From salvage to treasure
Boudreau may have started with discards but then transformed them into works of such high color saturation and a glossy coat, that they resemble porcelain or small, richly-lacquered jewelry novelty boxes we sometimes receive for Christmas presents.
Can you get past Boudreau’s work #1, “Pacific Industrial Frame?”
I almost couldn’t; “how come this?” and “how come that?” kept coming to mind. Is the construction site depicted really a cage, or even a jail cell? The work is a shadow-and-light study packed with geometric images that contain some contradictions. Scaffolding obscures the graffiti on a building wall to the left, and it creates optical illusions as the eye moves to the right to interpret lines and shapes. The focal point seems to be a black box in the back—but that focal point changes as we complete eye movement from left to right. Too, there’s something mysterious about the triangular shadow we see on the ground. We cannot identify the overhead shadow source of the left side of the triangle.
Still stuck on # 1
But every moment was worth it. So what, I was confused, and then stepped back about 3 yards for a refreshing overall view. And, the focal point changed—think optical illusion art of the 1960s. A trapezoid moved in and out, over and over again, from the forefront to the background, as I gazed at the rectangles formed by scaffolding. The discovery process was hypnotic.
The black rectangular area at the initially seen focal point doesn’t seem realistic unless it’s placed as a metaphor. The sunlight above appears contradictory; it’s not bright enough to create such a blackened area at the rear of the picture. And, there are a few fine pink and yellow lines painted onto the black rectangle. Being able to see what these lines actually represent would be in keeping with the sunlight above. But…no, we can’t. Only Mr. Boudreau knows…
Noticing the details is fun
Not only do his works incorporate vertical lines of wooden strips into the pictures—but nail holes in the strips themselves become intrinsic to the subject in this work, becoming nail holes in the ground! And, Boudreau even spaced out the vertically-placed strips a little bit to continue painting the picture’s image behind on the wooden box support, to continue the skyline, for example. He is a master of perspective technique.
Boudreau’s work #2, “Construction Hangar,” is not a WYSIWYG, either.
Once again, stepping back about 3 yards helps in viewing this railroad station subject. A question mark arises in the mind when standing close to it and glancing at the bright orange roll-screen door, with undecipherable swirls, on a warehouse building. Just step back, and the door becomes a fiery sunset above a hot orange ocean! Obviously, the “door” view is another metaphor. Boudreau offers a different interpretation of the same scene in work #7. There, the large roll-screen door at the front has no orange sunset imposed upon it, and here we see equipment inside.
Miniature train replicas from our childhood? Boudreau’s works #3, 4,and 5 are small-scale studies of railcars and environs. The muted red and yellow cars should remind us of toys with paint colors that faded since (or even during) our childhood. Some of us might recall those muted colors of vehicles in our Golden Book story illustrations.
I see London, I see France…There’s a mosaic-like object in blue and green up at the right corner of the sky in Boudreau’s work #6, “Union Electric Skyline.” A close inspection reveals part of the world map, a morphed interpretation of Europe and Russia and places moving east. It contrasts with the soft yellows, oranges and grays seen in the remainder of the urban subject painting--of plain apartment buildings, a structure emitting smoke, and pipes and stairways—again, a detailed geometric study.
That concrete river anomaly
Boudreau’s work #8 is of the peculiar L.A. River, more like an exposed concrete gutter. He has interpreted this subject in bright yellow and purple hues, with pink added to the sky, unrealistic but electrifying; it looks like the start of a magical storm. The picture screams, “Look at me, I’m exciting;” and we do so willingly, as we hear thunder crack in our minds.
Andy Warhol, revisited
Boudreau’s work #9, “Sarah Kings,” of a woman at home, in fractionated red and pink tones, against what appears to be a concrete block wall behind her. The lines of the block wall, along with the white crack lines on her hair and color-mottled areas on her face may suggest a broken life. That the bright lamp behind her is tilted and leaning on another object suggests she life might be falling apart.
ROBERT GRUBER embraces ethnic diversity and culture in his works, and they are unmistakably East Coast scenes. Most taken in black-and-white, and a few in color, his studies are of high quality and realistic enough for photojournalism usage, but done with sensitive and compassionate interpretation. Gruber complements the New York’s vintage look with appropriate graininess in his black-and-white photos. “When was this taken?” comes to mind as we examine some; Gruber’s photos portray depth of emotion resembling photos in the old Life magazines.
Photo study of photos
In “Street Portraits,” (b&w), Asians and blacks sit at a portrait table set up outdoors. The visual echo effect of bicycles with baskets adds a parallel sense of community and purpose. A vintage convertible car rushes at the right; we often see the old juxtaposed alongside the new in Gruber’s works.
In “Graffiti Car” (color), a car is at the foreground, and the orange graffiti-covered wall behind. Because there are no people in this photo, and the focus is on bright graffiti, there is a sense that value has been placed on the graffiti.
In “Explore Your Fantasies not the Workers” (color), the window in the brick building here could be of an old garment factory or other business. We would like to see life behind the window but there’s no further visual invitation. We can contemplate the politically-tinged title of the photo and picture a sweatshop or other undesirable employment situation in our minds.
“Red Dress” (color). Here, the lady in a blue blouse and red skirt, out on the street, provides visual relief before cold urban design.
“Fleet Week” A buxom black lady stands across from smiling black sailors. The interaction appears wholesome and sociable, even though we might expect a more flirtatious encounter.
Tragicomedy here “Marilyn Two Ways," is a brown-and-white study of Monroe defaced with graffiti. But these side-by-side images of her look like they began as graffiti-type art by an mural artist emulating Andy Warhol’s style, and the added-on moustaches and word written in Japanese are the second layer of graffiti! See “NOT ART” written backward on her chin, as a mirror image.
“Atlantic Avenue Station” (b&w) Two Chassidic Jewish men in dated dress, stand across from one another and chat in a modern transportation center. The juxtaposition of time and locale is charming. We expect contemporary-dressed people in a modern setting, and those clad in clothes of generations ago in native country paintings.
Another “message” (b&w) In “Notorious,” a black lady stands at a subway wall, and “No dream is too big” is on the bus.
Couldn’t find a title but loved the b&w of a row of male mannequins dressed in different jackets, with the street and neighboring shops reflected in the window.
Provocative title, “Woman Ascending Stairs 2,” of a woman’s leg and high-heeled shoe. The suggestion of a prostitute comes to mind but we are not sure.
This parallels “Skater,” of a pant-clad leg on a skateboard.
“Faces on the Wall” (b&w) appears as commercially-drawn images of women’s faces probably for a cosmetic ad, alongside a somewhat terrifying, abstract study of a woman’s face with rings around the eyes.
The singular-most fantastic work (color photo) on display, “Change,” was of a graffiti-covered wall with remainders of fliers that had been pasted on and removed prior, beneath an eerily blue-and-red outlined face with only the top of the head showing--pop art style, with graffiti in the light-reflected portion of the forehead. The entire image, including the flier remainders, provides a cohesive study of urban decay.
Local artist DANIEL THEDELL’s oil paintings are generally muted in color but provocative in theme. The human subjects in these works provide the only warm, contrasting color—in their hair, skin and clothes. Thedell will have reflect on what is of value in our modern society. The school of Expressionism (German artistic movement in Germany in the early 1900s, emphasizing feelings and moods rather than objective reality) has influenced him.
The lady grabs all the attention
Painting #1, “Awaiting 3266,” is of an Hispanic lady in a white dress sitting on a cement divider, overlooking a shabby house and apartment buildings. She provides much visual relief in skin tones, hair and the dress—but there’s a burgundy cloud in the sky and Thedell’s paint drips. She’s probably waiting for someone to meet her for a social event. I expect all that burgundy and paint action in the sky suggests she is in a poor relationship with a man.
Here comes a street lamp, #2, “Walk Across University.”—or we come to it.
And, a building in the background. The geometric shapes of the metal lamp parts provide interest, Here, as in his other similarly-themed paintings, Thedell adds bright paint splotches and drips resembling fireworks for motion and interest.
There’s a boy just like those in the 1950’s first grade reading books.
Thedell’s Painting #3, “Route 10 from Oldtown,” is of the boy at a window bordered by a curve of bricks on the top. The window is cracked, and there’s been a spill down it—we secretly worry it could be blood. The boy looks like a vintage subject superimposed onto the remainder of the work. His flesh offers bright visual relief to the muted colors of his clothes and the harsh dark colors behind him.
“Eli’s on University,” Painting #4
The sky here is in browns and yellows, interrupted by the drab slate-blue of the vintage Elli’s street sign, with the arrow at the bottom of the sign pointing at something not in the painting’s visual field. Because of the colors, the drabness of the urban landscape, and the prominence of the sign, it appears Thedell has portrayed it as a vintage work to be considered of sentimental value in our urban society. But this close-up view of the grayish-blue sign points out that it is comical, as the street number 300 is on a separate shapely section above the vertically-placed Eli’s name section—and below the name is an arrow on a rounded section. That the sign has been divided into this many parts borders on the ridiculous. But it’s all in the scope of commercial urban design to see oddities like this, especially in older parts of town.
Another take on the Hispanic lady
In Painting #6, “The Day-to-Day,” Thedell’s lady appears as a Hispanic immigrant, her head wrapped in a gray shawl, commingling with her hair. Suggesting a somewhat-fatigued Madonna-like image, she stands before old apartment flats and appears contemplative. The curve of her eyebrow placed above an upper eyelid enhanced with eyeliner is distinctive.
And still another take
“Sunrise” is captivating, of the same lady, with a band of pink “ears” atop a shawl on her head. The shawl is open and flows like long human hair. She’s wearing a band of pink ears, too, on her head (Playboy bunny ears, perhaps). Utility poles to her side appear as a cross, and she gazes toward the sky, An urban Madonna, anyone?
Palm trees get all the attention now Thedell has painted several works with palm trees as the primary subject, emerging above apartment buildings, at different locations in San Diego. They are the only life form present, so we attach more importance to them than if they stood in a lineup of trees on a street. Thedell’s paint drips add more movement, and the palm trees, with extra oil paint thickly applied, command our attention.
Thedell wastes no canvas in his works; he continues the image on all the borders, respecting the wrapping of the canvas around its frame.