Neon is one of those noble gases that hangs out looking sexy and drinking cocktails around Group 18 of the periodic table while the other gases sweat in the kitchen, cooking. Representing the fantasy-inducing family of neon, argon, xenon, krypton and helium gas, each with its distinct qualities and color, “neon” is usually captured in glass tubes that have been bent into artful shapes, then stimulated by currents of electricity until it glows. The bright lights can be seen from great distances—perfect for desert casinos—or through windshields streaming with rain in dark northern cities, where the comforting pink and ultramarine glow of the international sign for cocktails is a beacon of hope for the weary traveler.
Articles by Maureen Davidson
‘Cavalia’ A Horse Lover’s Delight
Rapunzeline manes, braid-crimped and gleaming, drape over magnificent heads held in best finishing-school alertness atop arched necks rippling with muscle—and that’s just the acrobats, those bit players in Cavalia whom nobody really comes to see. A fantasy equine circus with an impressive cast of animals and humans, the show that “explores the relationship between man and horse” is unapologetically all about the ponies.
The Exhibitionist: Tony May
They’re social events, art openings, occasioned by the showing of a body of work by one or more artists. Amid a crowd and the buzz of conversation, it’s rarely possible to really see the artwork, except to decide whether or not to return. The opening reception was, however, the very best time to see the 40-year retrospective of a loved artist and teacher, Tony May, whose “Tony May: Old Technology ™” exhibition at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art opened Nov. 12.
The Exhibitionist: Leo Villareal
Light might well be the most distinctive mark of mankind on the surface of the planet. From space, continents glow and light clusters indicate where people are gathered. Artists long have “painted with light” metaphorically, but at the beginning of the 21st century, light became the medium for a new art form. Using computer programming, the artist creates and sets in motion a sequence of actions expressed in light and directed by mathematical rules or algorithms, then allows that sequence to play itself out without intervention.
The Exhibitionist: Fragile Strength
The expressions are inscrutable. Wide-set eyes cast down or to the side; lids lowered like shades against intrusion; lips relaxed, sometimes slightly open: the ashen clay figures of Charlene Doiron Reinhart look inward and take the viewer with them. Like the white-painted characters in Butoh theatre, their expressions are communicated by the whole highly stylized form and given power by eloquent naturalistic details.
The Exhibitionist: Figured Out
Human eyes are drawn to it first, irresistibly, no matter what the vista. Some anthropologists say that our popular culture is obsessed with, even worships it. We certainly know nothing quite as completely as we know it: the human figure. That quadri-limbed shape dances along the roofs of caves, the unmistakable mark of humankind from the time our species harnessed fire and hunted with pointed sticks.
The Exhibitionist: Arts in Abundance
On the final weekend of Santa Cruz County Open Studios I was heading to San Jose to see “Modified” at the Art Ark gallery but, overcome by a new cold I just couldn’t ignore, exited Highway 17 to return to Santa Cruz. I saw an Open Studios sign and, on an impulse, decided that if I were only going to see one more studio before I curl up under blankets, it would be one I’d never visited, in a direction I’d never been.
The Exhibitionist: A Tale of Two Murals
Two new murals have materialized in Santa Cruz to swell the ranks of the officially blessed public imagery that bejewels the streetscape. The real sparkler is almost hidden on the far wall of the parking lot at 1111 Soquel Avenue. This half-block-long untitled work is a riot of 3,224 individually designed glass mosaic squares. Integrating this disparate collection of imagery is a strong overall design using a limited but vivid palette of black, white, red and blue grout to create dynamic interplay of cubist shapes.
The Exhibitionist: Stan Welsh
Stillness fills the room, the palpable stillness of long waiting, of deep thought, of a tremulous breath in the face of unfathomable power. The gallery is vast and unobstructed, the art on the walls restrained in palette and tone: quiet elegance belying a radical nature.
The Exhibitionist: ‘Visibly Invisible’
Difficult as it may be to “find oneself” during the course of that journey we all share, Cabrillo Gallery’s exhibition, “Visibly Invisible,” shows how, for some, that search became a hero’s quest. Curator Tobin Keller brought together five artists working in still photography, drawing and painting, film, video and multimedia to present perspectives, each very personal, on the issue of gender transformation. Subtitled “Artists Working with Transgendered Themes,” the exhibition voices truths relevant to the entire race, whatever gender, through its empathic focus on one group of people struggling with how to be who they are.
