reviewed by Alec Clayton
The Weekly Volcano, Nov. 15, 2012
 |
| "No Return," acrylic by Osalys Avila Milan |
B2
Fine Art has opened the third installment of their international youth art
exhibition Beyond Crayons and Finger
Painting 3.0. featuring work from young artists 7-19 years old from Bethlehem, Canada, China, Cuba, Korea, and the
United States.
Compared to previous incarnations of this show, this
one has more work that I see as typical of work by young artists, meaning a
preponderance of drawings and paintings inspired by graphic novels, Japanese
anime and Surrealism. Overall I find the work in this show to be not as
innovative as that of the previous two shows, but the quality of the work is
just as good.
I counted nine paintings from Chinese artists. They
all appeared to be works from students of the same teacher. They look enough
alike that if it were not for a variety of names of the wall labels I would
have assumed they were all by the same artist. They are all happy, colorful,
sweet and densely-populated cartoon-like scenes with crowds of both Asian and
Western people. They’re a lot of fun, and I can’t help but imagine that they
are all illustrations for the same graphic novel. Nice, but too syrupy sweet
for my taste.
 |
| "Mirage" acrylic by Osalys Avila Milan - photos courtesy B2 Fine Art |
Similar in style but much more aesthetically
pleasing are a group of three pieces by Sophie Story from right here in Tacoma.
There are two digital prints, each with a single, very cute female figure in a
dreamy and amorphous environment drawn with very sensitive and sharp contour
lines and flat colored areas. Also by Story is a portrait of Jimi Hendrix done
with markers.
Lee Hyen Jung from Korea has a portrait of a man
with flowing black hair and facial coloring that looks a lot like psychedelic
art from the ’60s or like a paint-by-number portrait. It is a dramatic image.
Also from Korea, Ke Myung Seo has painted Harry
Potter driving a monster truck in watercolor and colored pencil. Also like
Jung’s piece, this one is very dramatic with strong dark and light contrasts
and swirling and energetic but controlled paint application. Like everything
else mentioned up to this point, it looks illustrational.
There’s a really nice little watercolor by Makieya
Dunham from Detroit, Mich., of Adam and Eve naked by the tree of knowledge.
It’s simple and colorful and reminds me a lot of Chagall’s “The Birthday” and
“Over the Town.” There’s a crude quality to the drawing that looks intentional
and which I find very refreshing.
Finally, the most outstanding works in the show —
two paintings that alone are worth going to this show — are “No Return” and
“Mirage” by Cuban artist Osalys Avila Milan, who was awarded the Freedom award in London and was
among the youngest students to be invited to the Academy
of Fine Arts of San Alejandro at age 15. She is now 19. Each of these two
paintings are large and stunning Pop Art images that remind me a little bit of
R.J. Kitaj (“No Return”) and a little bit of Philip Guston (“Mirage”).The
bird’s eye view and skewed perspective in “No Return”) is fascinating and both
are solidly composed with bright but not garish colors. This young woman is an
amazing painter.
The gallery is hosting a
series of workshops in conjunction with this show. Go to the website at http://www.b2finearts.com for further
information.
[B2 Fine Art Gallery, Beyond
Crayons and Finger Painting 3.0, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, till 8 p.m. Third Thursdays, through
Nov. 30, 711 St. Helens
Avenue, Tacoma, 253.238.5065]
Ma
No comments:
Post a Comment