Cannon spotlights four artists in juried exhibit

By: BILL FARK - For the North County Times | Wednesday, December 8, 2004 12:56 PM PST ∞

In the five years since its opening, the William D. Cannon Art Gallery has featured the work of numerous local artists. This concentration reaches its peak with the current presentation of the 2004 Cannon Art Gallery Invitational.

Gallery coordinator Karen McGuire said the show evolved from the annual juried exhibitions that have shown works by thousands of local artists.

"These shows were lively, eclectic presentations that included the work of a large number of artists working in a wide variety of styles and media.

But, however talented, each artist would have one or two pieces on display ---- four at the most. Enough to whet the appetite of viewers perhaps, but not quite enough to get a full appreciation of an artist's work," McGuire said.

So the gallery's exhibition strategy changed. The annual juried exhibition became a biennial (every other year), with an invitational exhibit presented in the alternating years. For the invitational show this month, McGuire selected four artists ---- Yoshimi Hayashi, Christine Oatman, Mario Torero and Marcela Villasenor ---- who were chosen from the 31 who participated in the 2003 biennial.

The four artists represent the great variety of art in San Diego County. Hayashi is a sculptor who creates art from mundane materials. Oatman's art is in assemblages, miniature environments inspired by memories and created from found objects. Torero's paintings are socially motivated. Villasenor uses a contemporary form, digital photography, to unite past and present.

The first piece on view in the exhibit is Torero's acrylic-on-canvas "La Sufrida," which sets the mood for the section of the gallery devoted to the artist. The subject is a woman of majestic mien, surrounded by figures, both mythic and real, from a pre-Hispanic past.

Another strong work is "No Corras Vuela (The Sendoff)," in which an American Indian male (Aztec/Mayan or Incan) contemplates a figure representing the past. The demonic expressions on both the man and the figurine give the painting a supernatural look. Nearby hangs a digital print of a mural Torero painted in Chicano Park in San Diego. "Heroes" is a composite work memorializing figures from the past from Benito Juarez to Mother Teresa to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "El Christo Che" beatifies the popular revolutionary Che Guevara.

Torero also makes contemporary political statements. "Mescalito (The Border)" and "Maquiladoro (Love Conquers Hate)" notes the love-hate relationship between Mexico and the United States. "Quetzacoatl (The Indian Renaissance)" is a restatement in belief of the mythical land of Aztlan.

Marcela Villasenor also links past and present. Her images, most of them created by manipulating digital photos, recall a type of pre-Hispanic sculpture, chacmool. Chacmool, carved in stone, is a reclining human figure lying on its back, face turned toward the viewer. Once considered to be an independent deity, the chacmool is now believed to be a part of sacrificial rituals.

Villasenor surrounds the figure with symbols of pre-Hispanic culture, primarily maize. Her subject is her mature daughter, representing the present, in various native activities from childbirth to physical labor. "Semillas de Sangre #3" was created by printing discs with an inked sponge in the form of a cross. "Untitled #1," another cross form, combines text, miniature photo prints and painting.

Yoshimi Hayashi's art reflects his "interest in the beauty of the ordinary, the mundane." This is evident in his choice of material and in how he creates art.

Of the 13 Hayashi pieces in the exhibition, the majority are on paper. But not ordinary paper; four were executed on napkins. Hayashi also incorporates script on most of his pieces. "Gaze," "Peel" and "Forward" have precisely spaced lines of writing in Japanese on napkins. "Measure of You" is a round section of a world map centered on the Arctic Circle covered with lines and lines of written text.

This devotion to writing extends to other materials as well. "Places for Space, Space for Space" is executed on a narrow strip of chalkboard approximately 5 feet long. Another piece is a vertical strip of chalkboard with text in chalk.

Hayashi does not confine himself to a single medium. "Waingoro" was created by dripping ink on rolls of paper, some suspended from the ceiling, others attached to a fixed post. "Glance," along with "Forever/Never to Find You," "So Damn Gorgeous" and "Perch of Stone, Cord of Wood" are cast aluminum. "Offer You My Heaven" is a lithograph, and "Out of My Way" is a ceramic teapot. The artist is also represented by a video.

Christine Oatman's assemblages represent her reactions to found objects, as well as what she has read and experienced. On a nonfunctional screen door that separates the assemblages from the rest of the gallery is a quote from Emily Dickinson, "Nature is a haunted house, but art a house that tries to be haunted." By accepting this dichotomy, the viewer can enjoy the six pieces of art.

Dickinson is also the subject of an assemblage. The central focus of "Emily" is a skull resting atop two volumes by the reclusive New England poet: "Letters of Emily Dickinson" and "The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson."

Oatman said the teeming life inside the skull contradicts the stereotyped symbol of death. Dew drops glisten on grass: golden fingers hold a human eye. And a butterfly held by a golden female figure soars into the sky. A magnifying glass serves two purposes. It enables viewers to examine the contents of the skull; it also represents the science that informs Dickinson's verses.

"Desert Hymnal" is a tribute to a distant relative of the artist. While traveling to California in 1851, Olive Oatman and her younger sister Mary Ann were captured and enslaved by Yavapais and Mohave Indians. Mary Ann died of starvation, but Olive was rescued and married a New York banker, with whom she lived a quiet life.

An image of Olive is shown on the mirrored lid of a 19th-century canister that contains the assemblage. Inside is a miniature desert diorama that includes a prickly ocotillo branch with a book of inspirational verses caught on its thorns. A hummingbird, a tiny horned lizard and an arrowhead complete the environment.

"Seed Box" links William Wordsworth's poem "Ode on Intimations of Immortality" and Burpee's brand seeds. The linking theme is growth. Props representing growth ---- a watering can and rake ---- are shown with a scythe, the symbol of death.

Objects in "Vanity Box" represent the Realm of the Senses. The image on the mirror, a section of the 15th-century French unicorn tapestries, represents Sight. Representations of the other senses are in the drawers. New grass invites Touch. Salt is Taste. Perfume bottles represent Smell, and a recording provides Sound.

"Elephant Stand: The Material Realm" gets its name from the central object, a red-painted stool on which an elephant stood during circus performances. In the assemblage, a toy pachyderm occupies the stand, along with other miniature figures and objects associated with the circus: trunks, a program and a half-empty beer bottle. Oatman identifies poet William Carlos Williams as the philosophical touchstone for the piece.

A sewing basket from the 1950s is the metaphor for "Nest." Sewing-related objects reflect the optimism of the period: "Happy Home" rustproof needles and "Success" brand snap fasteners. Complementing the scene are an ironing board and portable sewing stand and a copy of The Workbasket magazine.

This is the William D. Cannon Gallery's first invitational. Next year, the gallery sponsors a juried biennial, followed in 2006 by another invitational. Artists wishing to enter the 2005 biennial should contact the gallery at (760) 602-2021 to request a "Call for Entries" brochure.

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