I ENTERTAINMENT I

furniture by

WENDELL CASTLE

An exhibition of new interpretations of traditional

Wild About Harry

rr-

Continued from preceding page

furniture forms.

December 5, 1989 — February 4, 1990

•%„,.

\..A t

• The Detroit Institute of Arts

5200 Woodward Avenue

Detroit, Michigan 48202

(313) 833-7900

• Open 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday- Sunday.

Closed Mondays, holidays.

• FREE ADMISSION

• Also through January 28:

"Holy Image, Holy Space:

Icons & Frescoes From Greece."

1.Maquette for Full Moon (detail), 1987-88.

Collection of Hammerson Canada, Inc.

2. Threculive Desk No. 444, 1974.

Collection of Alan M. Markowitz.

3. Never Complain, Never Explain, 1985.

Collection of Wendell Castle and Nanc-y Jurs.

4. Desk and Chair (detail), 1965.

Weinsaft works on a painting.

Collection of Norman S. and Louise It Levy

5. Bench (detail), 1988.

The Detroit Institute of Arts.

The
Detroit
of Arts

Institute

The exhibition was made possible with the assistance of an anonymous
donor and David Schwarz. Additional simort uus provided by the
state of Michigan, the city of Detroit and the Founders Society

=so eors

r'

-

family

dining

25938 Middlebelt Rd. at 11 Mile Rd. in the Mid•11 Plaza
Farmington Hills
476-1750

a
0

2 for $10.95

8 • CHICKEN STIR FRY w/garden greens veg.

• RAINBOW. TROUT w/pot., spinach pie, rice
I • VEAL MARSALA w/pot • ROAST CHICKEN wince I
• CHICKEN MARSALA wipot. • VEAL PARMESAN 1
L • GREEK COMBO PLATE wince

OPEN 7 DAYS . . . MON. THRU THURS. 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
FRI. & SAT. 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. — SUN. 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

66

FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1990

As an outgroirth of his suc-
cessful art business, Weinsaft
took up painting. He began to
dabble about 15 years ago to
express his own feelings
about art, color and design —
as a foil for the commercial
side of art sales.
Weinsaft began to paint in
earnest after he suffered his
second stroke last year and
moved into Borman Hall. It
has become his personal
therapy.
"I had to do something. I
couldn't paint with my right
hand. So, I developed a
medium I could do with one
hand and one elbow. I found
a technique where if I use the
right materials, they slide
and mix properly. Actually, I
developed it before I got sick.
But I figured, if I could do it
with two hands, why not one
hand?
"I am able to paint in a way
that the paint always looks
wet. When paint dries, it ox-
idizes and loses its brilliance.
But when the paint is wet, it
has a very strong brilliance,
and this is what I was able to
accomplish."
Working mostly on plex-
iglass, Weinsaft blends
material not normally joined
together — acrylic paint and
watercolor, lacquers and inks.
He also mixes media — using
a montage technique, blen-
ding in found objects, pottery
shards with decoupage text —
the paper sealed on the
ceramic fragments, or
aything else that strikes his
fancy or permits him to com-
municate the message he
wants to get across. He calls
his brilliantly colored works
"Eye Music."

"Music is like color. Color is
like music. You can translate
music to color. Every color has

pitch — a high pitch, a low
pitch. I can tell from the col-
or if it was a somber piece or
a happy piece of music," he
says.
To prove his point, Weinsaft
is working with a musical
therapist at Borman Hall to
develop a special art and
music program.
In Borman Hall, just past
the guard's desk, hangs a
small exhibition of Weinsaft's
work — abstracts based on
the stories in Genesis and the
Book of Moses, which took
him three months to com-
plete. For example, one piece
depicts the burning bush. It's
an acrylic done in fiery tones
of red and orange with real
leaves, the painting sand-
wiched and then sealed bet-
ween two pieces of plexiglass.
Weinsaft uses a number of
sources for inspiration —
classical music, poetry,
themes of happiness or
sadness. But the Old Testa-
ment is one of Weinsaft's
favorite sources.
"When I read the Book of
Moses, I find the beautiful
history of the Jewish people.
So, I am fitting the Book of
Moses into color and pain-
ting."
Appropriately, Weinsaft
paints under the pseudonym
Hagai, a not-so-famous pro-
phet from the Old Testament.
While his wife, Madeline,
operates their Kingsley Inn
Gallery, Weinsaft, in a clut-
tered, cramped workspace at
the Jewish home, creates.
This little studio has become
his haven.
"I am able to get up in the
morning and go there and
paint," he says. "Every day —
if I'm lucky enough that
somebody gives me raw
materials to paint — I
paint." ❑

K