Variety
By KAREN BORNSTEIN
To collect the most recent works of
seven different artists is exciting,
fulfilling, and quite a lot of fun. But to
take these creations, as unique as the
artists themselves, and organize and
present them in such a manner that ea
work shimmers, and your eye can flow
smoothly from one captivating piece to
the other rather than confusedly dart
back and forth amongst a hodgepodge
of wonder, is something terribly dif-
ficult.
Yet, upon the rare occasion this is
achieved, the result becomes an exhibit
that is a veritable work of art in and of
Qerd~i n nnt
itself. This month the Alice Simsar
Gallery is proof that these occasions do
exist, through a beautiful display of
"New Works by Gallery Artists."
the exhibit features the latest work of
Hannelore Baron, Stanley Boxer, Joyce
Kozloff, Billy Lee, Ellen Stavinsky,
Cornelia von Mengershausen, and Adja
Yunkers. Because the works cover a
wide range of media, it is amazing that
they work together so well, each acting
as a transitional device for the next.
Lee, a U-M School of Art faculty
member, exhibits the two largest works
in the show. These complex construc-
tions of black wood inlaid with
machined aluminum are carefully
calculated to create the effect of a
three-dimensional grid.
The aluminum regions, shining with
intensity, refract light and continually
glow, changing with the slightest
variation in shadows or movements.
Through these constructions, Lee suc-
The Michigan Daily-Friday, August 4, 1978-PageS5
reigns at Simsar Gallery
f
Daily Photo by JOHN KN(
An exhibit of "New Works by Gallery Artists" is running this month at the Alice Sinssar Gallery. The exhibit includes work by
seven artists.
cessfully explores the possibilities of
chance within a physical territory that
is controlled and finite.
THE GEOMETRIC precision of Lee's
work easily drifts over into the
lithographs of Kozloff, who works in
New York and emphasizes design and
pattern in her vividly colored pieces.
Intricate color or dot-filled lines twist
and interlock, forming a variety of
geometric shapes that interlock as well
upon the recognition of newly-defined
spaces. Kozloff's delightful lithographs,
so closely resembling brightly colored
mosaic tiles, are inspired by sources
REC ORDS
ranging from Mexican borders to
Islamic design books.
The works of Stavinsky, who is also
from New York, seem to pulsate with
the excitement of being freshly created,
and the method of creation seems con-
stantly re-occurring before your eyes.
These are extremely intimate and per-
sonal pieces, made-of the artist's own
lossely bound handmade paper, which
resembles a thick gauze. The intense
life of these works is generated by her
putting different pieces of paper, soft
and fuzzy like the most fragile of
fabrics, against one another or com-
bining these masses with stitches of
golden thread. The result is a set of
works that is oddly sensual - soft, yet
jagged and coarse.
BARON, WHO WAS born in Germany
and has exhibited extensively in New
York, creates small and delicate
collages in mixed media. The collages
rest upon a background of fine cloth.
Needle-thin ink outlines surround the
area on which cut portions have been
attached, while thinned red pigment
bleeds through sections of cloth.
Despite the small, self-contained
scale and the fine quality of materials,
a disturbing element of chaos and
nightmarish confusion seems to per-
sistently stream through Adja Yunkers'
works. These pieces continue to demon-
strate his exploration of the layering
and backward/forward play of prin-
tmaking media. This is evident in an
embossed lithograph of brown and
cream-colored tones, entitled "Icon."
Of another character is Baxter, who
uses physical figures of humans, plants
and animals to create drawings of
dreamy fantasy. Within these works the
large shapes, penciled lines and rich
pastel colors flow together musically,
like the rippling water they are often
meant to represent.
IF THIS EXHIBIT is a work of art it-
self, however, there must be one area,
one aspect that helps make it the won-
derful display of creativity that it is,
and this is the work of Cornelia von
Mengershausen.
Von Mengershausen has had her
works shown at the Simsar Gallery
over a number of years, and these
works reflect her preoccupation with
the possibilities of the American desert
landscape. They are crepted from vast,
resonating spaces of earth-tone color,
overlayed with shade upon shade to
suggest the softest and deepest
shadows, the cliffs, or the canyons.
These works are constructed with
such attuned sensitivity and tenderness
that the richest and boldest of
statements seem to be made, statemen-
ts that further enhance the beautiful
works that surround them and that help
to define the gallery as the work of art
this exhibit has made it.
--.c
California Jam II
Various artists
Colambia PC2 35389
What would attract 250,000 people to a
racetrack infield for eleven straight
hours on a warm California spring day?
The answer is not the Second Coming,
but "California Jam II," a mammoth
rock concert-publicity stunt which oc-
cupied the Ontario Motor Speedway
last March.
Despite the size of the event, this con-
cert had little in common with its
forebears at Woodstock and Monterey,
two "happenings" that marked a
dynamically growing awareness in the
'60s of the fearsome power of rock and
roll. This double alum' ,released by
Columbia, features cstly.Confumbia ban-
ds, and the renditions of the largely
recent hits are anything but landmarks.
MUCH OF THE music is too slow
(Heart's "Little Queen" and "Love
Alive") or sloppily performed
(Aerosmith's "Same Old Song and
Dance"). Ted Nugent gets a chance to
inflict his ear-shattering rock on the
masses, with a monotonous "Free For
All" and a surprisingly well-recorded
"Snakeskin Cowboy." Carlos Santana's
guitar shines like burnished silver in his
two Latin-rock numbers, "Dance Sister
Dance" and "Jugando."
Although. California Jam II isn't
garishly commercial enough to offend
anyone's tastes, it's just about com-
pletely useless.
-Tim Yagle
We never
hove to cover
onything up
UM Stylists
at the UNION
The Saline Area Players
are accepting applications far:
Artistic Director "INHERIT
THE WIND"
Artistic Director
Musical Director "MAME"
Choreography
Dates: November 2, 3, 4-March 1, 2, 3
Call: 429-9118 or 429-5133 after 5 pm or write: P.O. Box 334,
Saline, Ml, 48176.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS AND
"_ SUPPORTING MATERIALS--AUGUST 11 .
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