Ivana Olson

Last week I stopped by the Phoenix Art Museum to check out the “Ansel Adams: Discoveries” exhibition. As a photography student, I have briefly studied Ansel Adams and have heard of the full archive of his work being located at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson. So when I heard that there was going to be an exhibition bringing some of that collection here, I knew I had to go.

I visited the museum on Wednesday, the voluntary donation thanks to SRP day, because of my jobless college student bank balance. Apparently this was a common theme among Ansel Adams fans because it seemed everyone and their brother were there as well. The exhibit may not have been that crowded, but compared to the few people in each of the other galleries, it was quite popular.

I made my way through the room, visiting his early works first and passing through the American Southwest before finding color prints I had never seen before. The photography program at ASU likes to focus on black and white film during the first few years and in doing so, manages to only briefly touch on the subject of color prints. Adams’ color prints were made primarily for commercial use and, until recently, were only seen as reproductions. Now, technology has permitted reprinting from the original transparencies and the exhibit has used this to show a direct contrast between original prints, original reprints and new prints made from original transparencies. New technology does indeed make an impressive difference, however the original shots were still of a much higher quality than a lot of what I see today.

When I left the Ansel Adams exhibit I wandered around the museum for a while to see some of their other collections. I first walked through the Contemporary Art section, which is always a gamble for me as I enjoy the visual aspect of art and am somewhat against having to think about what I am looking at.

I immediately noticed the piece called “Upside Down, Inside Out” by Anish Kapoor. It is a large bowl shaped sculpture that almost reminds me of a compact two cup anemometer. The sculpture itself is about 7-8 feet tall and twice as wide. When looking into the concave portion the viewer can see their reflection (and most of their surroundings) both flipped and reversed. I was previously familiar with Kapoor’s work on The Cloud Gate, a public art piece in Chicago, but until now had not looked into the artist’s other works. I do enjoy some of his other works, which can be found at his website: www.anishkapoor.com/works/gallery

I walked through the Contemporary Art section, liking some and greatly disliking others and the experience offered a chance for some self reflection on my part. Instead of attempting to analyze the art that gave little in the way of explanation, I analyzed my own opinion of the entire concept of analyzing art. I enjoy art when it is aesthetically pleasing or when it contains a hidden message that either immediately pops out at me, or which I look at for a short time before coming to a shocking discovery about it. I do not enjoy art that appears the artist was trying to add meaning to it. Don’t misunderstand, I love art without meaning, but only when that art remains without meaning. I may be wrong, but several of the modern or contemporary pieces I come across seem to have been created just to be created but then shoehorned into a meaning in a sad attempt at making profit.

I also dislike most art which was created with an obvious meaning, but for which the meaning is overdone. As a student of fine arts I see a lot of repetition from various classes of certain subjects which mostly come across as a meaning they were forced to add because their instructor told them the piece must have meaning. Subjects such as body image, in particular, irk me. Half the time I’m convinced that my classmates just use that one as an excuse to turn in nude photos of themselves. Yet every time they do we have to have a critique about it and listen to the teacher say how liberating this must be for the student.

I walked through the Latin American Collection to clear my head of the chaos created by Contemporary and Modern art. I saw some classics by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. I especially enjoyed “El Suicidio de Dorothy Hale (The Suicide of Dorthy Hale)” by Frida Kahlo. I love that the frame is painted as a continuation of the picture. I am especially fond of art that depicts a historical event. The friendship between Frida Kahlo and Dorothy Hale brings emotion to the piece that other historical depictions often seem to lack.

My convictions with contemporary art aside, I would definitely recommend the Phoenix Art Museum as a must visit place to anyone. Do try to make it while the Ansel Adams exhibit is still around (it closes June 6) as his prints are so much more impressive in person.

I recently visited the Arizona Fine Art Expo in Scottsdale and was amazed to find that I actually enjoyed 90% of the art being shown. Normally when visiting art galleries and exhibitions I find it difficult to really appreciate the art. I mostly see fine art as being something where an artist is struggling to bring meaning to an otherwise meaningless object and often that results in my opinion that they are trying too hard or else have completely made it up. I almost never appreciate the attempt to throw hidden meaning into a painting, or any art for that matter. When I view art I want to be relaxed or amazed but never do I wish to feel as if I should be working toward finding a hidden message. I was never one for those magic eye posters, if I couldn’t see it right away I would get annoyed and move on.

However, most of the work on display at the Arizona Fine Art Expo was the opposite of what I have found in art museums and galleries. It was pleasant to look at, relaxing and intriguing and never demanded increased effort on my part. I noticed a pattern in many of the artists when it came to color. They all shared their own unique style, of course, but the colors in many of them were quite vivid and playful, while still setting separate moods and each piece working with it’s own idea.

The expo was set in a large outdoor tent sharing a dirt parking lot with a small old west town and a stable of horses. Inside, elaborate rows of booths and well lit walls covered in art. Each individual booth (labeled “studios”) consisted of hanging art, art on tables, free standing pieces, a table with business cards and information and frequently, an artists work station where they could set up and be working on a piece while showing their finished art. Because of this the majority of the tent held a light and pleasing scent of oil paints.

The expo housed everything from jewelry and furniture to wood and bronze sculptures to paintings and photography and even some elaborate kaleidoscopes.

My first stop was just inside the door, where a wall of oil paintings by Bill Shaddix caught my eye. The paintings involved subjects like western landscapes, American Indian tribes, cowboys and horses. One piece in particular that caught my eye was a painting called “Slicker Weather” which shows men riding horses through a lightning storm. The way the light played off of water splashes caused by horses trotting through the river was especially impressive.

The next stop was an artist named Craig Bergsgaard who makes western and classical bronze sculptures. The most specific pieces that caught my attention were a large fountain sculpture called “Coolin the dogs,” which shows a cowboy sitting on a log and inspecting his boot. There’s a smaller sculpture titled “Gus n’ Dusty” which is a smaller fountain showing the same man, still inspecting his boot. Craig Bergsgaard’s website is easy to find, at www.CraigBergsgaard.com.

I next visited Katherine L. Wilson, who was at her exhibit working on a new painting. I talked with her about her process and discovered that her amazingly complex paintings are a product of mixed media, involving a large variety of tools and layers of information. The art she had displayed was all about horses. She explained to me that she loves horses and wishes she could have one. Unfortunately, my favorites of her work are located on either end of her booth and neither are present in this picture. If you have a chance, I encourage you to visit her booth and view her paintings involving zebras, and one on the left incorporating a number of materials (paints, paper, charcoal, metals, etc.) depicting a beautiful light colored horse surrounded by dark writing.

Katherine pointed me in the direction of some fine art photographers and on the way I came across a collection of elaborate kaleidoscopes. These kaleidoscopes are each unique, mounted on crystal, fossil or burl pedestals and aimed at turntables filled with various interesting objects. The artist is Steve Failows and his fantastic creations can be seen at his website, www.scopesbysteve.com

I moved on to the exhibit of artist Kelby Love. His business card quotes “The hardest thing to capture is the true power of nature.” And that is exactly what he has done. At first glance his paintings appear to be photographs, but upon closer inspection I found that it was simply his acute attention to detail that makes the images nearly exact in their realistic views. His work shows excellent depth of field and the most realistic looking animals I’ve ever seen come from paint and brush. Examples of his art can be found at www.KelbyLove.net

Across from Kelby Love is an artist named Patrick Bailey whose paintings of brightly colored marbles immediately drew my attention. He describes these paintings as “roller coaster ribbons of color and light,” and I’ll have to agree with that description entirely. His attention to detail and perfect perspective and depth make his paintings just as realistic and photograph-like as his expo neighbor. His subject matter varies from marbles and other inanimate objects, to cars, to diners and people. His work can be seen at www.pbailey.com

Making my way to the fine art photography I found the exhibit of Matt Suess who displayed a large collection of landscape photography. Photos of Massachusetts, Utah and the Grand Canyon accompanied more abstract images of long-exposure/intentionally blurred plant life. All images contained intense colors and carefully selected lighting situations. His website can be found at www.MattSuess.com

Also in Photography was Cristine Hauber who utilizes traditional photography as well as photographic mixed media. I not only enjoyed her work but I appreciated the way she labeled her processes so the viewer could better understand how the image was created. Her images on display involved bridges and nature but she has a wide variety of subjects including man made objects, animals and people. Her website is located at www.WorkingInTheUSA.com

Finally, I visited Richard Bell who was present at his exhibit and eager to talk about his work. His display included works by himself, his wife and his son, Rick Bell-Borja. They create original sculptures from copper and bronze and using Behr house paint to add color. He explained that after trying various paints they found that the Behr house paint has proven to be the most reliable in terms of fade resistance and longevity. This piece specifically took about three weeks to construct and each leaf is hand carved and unique.

There were many more artists at the expo and I wish I had time to review them all. I encourage everyone to check out the Arizona Fine Art Expo while it is still running (through March 28, 2010). You can find more information about the expo at www.ArizonaFineArtEXPO.com