Arts
Wednesday, June 9, 1982.
The Michigan Daily
Page 7
Painting in three dimensions
By Jill Beiswenger
P RACTICALLY speaking, Chris
Lauckner needs a larger studio,
so that artist, canvas and model are in
the same room at the same time.
In another, perhaps metaphysical
way, the viewer also needs to reassess
the space, if one is to appreciate the
vigor projected by his big paintings,
Shouting, I Am, Holocaust, and Dance
of the Winds.
There is no context we can place
these impious figures in, except to say
that they are godlike themselves, and
are committed to wresting their beings
from space.
But, this space is not voidlike or
passive. It surges over and billows bet-
ween the triads in Dance. The
background of Shouting, is an overlap-
ping of fleshtone and darkness, and the
illusion of transparency created, partly
obliterates the figure's outlines.
The rough surface of the paint, where
the brushstrokes are visible, transmits
a sense of motion. The figure lines are
made to seem like areas of sharply
diminished light.
What Lauckner does in his paintings
is an exploration of light and substance
that is the inherent domain of sculp-
ture. In Woman Seated, the torso is
beautifully "modeled," while the head
is a rough spray of space, reminiscent
of Italian High Renaissance sculpture.
These sculptures were often
historical figures and demi-gods,
caught in moments of contraposito,
their limbs powerful in repose or con-
vulsive extension. The movement and
Chris Lauckner stands in front of his 54-foot-long 'Parade.'
gestures of Holocaust, Dance, and most
of all his recent line drawings on rolls of
paper are similar to frescoes of the
same spirited period.
Some of the musical compositions of
this time, the baroque lute for example,
twist each note value by adding sub-
notes, holding space far apart, letting
the moment linger. The figures could be
moving to such music.
The portrait, Veronique, approaches
the problem of space and light from a
more modern direction. There is a
feeling of shuddering, as if she is oc-
cupying several dimensions at once.
The effect is not exactly im-
pressionist, for the capturing of
movement is accomplished through
changes of shape, rather than light. We
see Veronique through a shimmering
thickness of variable distance. Dif-
ferent features of her luscious face
come to us as though light years away.
An ongoing effect of Lauckner's is his
collection of figure drawings bound in
tablets, which he calls "con-
stellations." He likens them to the
figures that are ascribed to lines drawn
between stars. A recent exhibit of char-
coal drawings at Claire Spitler Works of
Art is a further example of his preoc-
cupation with volume created by line.
Lauckner says his paintings have
been criticized for their lack of depth. If
anything, it is depth he communicates,
abstract yet palpable. Right now, he is
working on Parade, a three-part piece
which will be about 54 feet in length
when finished.
It is in enormous works such as these
that Lauckner's strong sense of scale
could be fulfilled. Enormous pieces like
Parade might get him closer to the
magnitude of expression he desires.
| THEATRE
Dialogue on 'The.$4 Revue'
B Elliot Jackson
Dramatis Personae
EJ, An observer
Sarcastices, a crank
John Q, a man who wants
edifying
JOHN Q: So, EJ, darling, we beseech
you not to keep us in the darkling any
longer. I've heard simply scrummy
things about the new $4 Revue, and now
you tell us that you've actually seen it!
We simply shan't be satisfied till we've
quizzed you on every particular, isn't
that so, Sarcastices?
SARCASTICES: My, how I should
hate to be sitting on a red-hot stove till I
wanted to hear more about - or see -
the $4 Revue.
JOHN Q: My, my, so young to be so
cynical.
SARCASTICES: Surely you jest, my
friend. However, since your continued
existence, it seems, would hang upon an
imminent forthcoming of EJ's report, I
must add my urgings to John Q's, EJ,
that you tell us all about your evening's
entertainment.
EJ: Very well. Now, you must
imagine a rather elegantly appointed
room, with many tables, around which
many more or less elegantly appointed
people were lounging -
JOHN Q: Lapping up the vino, doub-
tless?
SARCASTICES: Truman Capote,
John Q - must you?
EJ: You're a snob, Sarcastices. Well
- yes! There was a fair amount of
drink to be had, at somewhat
reasonable prices, which was not at all
a bad thing really, as the liquor tended
to make people feel rather loose and
mellow, and pleasantly willing to listen
to anything.
Now as to the revue itself - It was
made up of some songs and sketches
and some quite dreadful jokes, all of
which seemed to be appreciated
equally by the audience.
JOHN Q and SARCASTICES: Be
specific, EJ.
EJ: Well, I would say that some of the
sketches and songs were funnier and
better-executed than some others. In
particular, I think you'd enjoy "Baby
It's Cold Outside," sung by M.J. Czer-
nik and Allan D. Fox, congenial per-
sonalities both; an odd little piece about
coffee and the unstable persons who or-
der it, which was called "Coffee: A
Relativity", and which was rather a
giggle; another aketch, "Person of the
Month Club," which was a take-off on
those outrageous commercials which
promise to change-your-life by making
you a computer technician or
strengthening your fingernails.
"Cherry Pies Ought to be You" is
another fun one, it sort of zoomed along
(you know?); and a song called "Good
Thing Going" was remarkable because
of Gwen Ricks' lovely voice, not to men-
tion the absurdly solemn expressions
assumed by the rest of the cast as they
listened.
All in all the experience Should prove
an amusing one, and not too taxing on
a weary brain.
SARCASTICES: Ah! Is that last,
however, necessarily a desirable thing?
JOHN Q: 0, Sarcastices, you never
fail to gratify us. We knew, we simply
knew, that you would have a word or
two-
EJ : - or three, or several -
JOHN Q: - upon the subject of the
every-elusive Point of the En-
deavour, with which to humble and
amaze us.
SARCASTICES: I am glad to under-
stand that I do not disappoint you in this
regard. Indeed, the "Point of the en-
deavor," as you put it, is something
that we must keep in mind at all times,
if we are to produce honest theatre.
EJ: But Sarcastices, we aren't
talking with dramatic theatre in this in-
See $4, Page 9
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