Love rules the gallery

OLGA LIVSHIN

“Love is in the air…. There are all kinds of love,” said Reisa Smiley Schneider, director of the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery, during the opening night of It’s All About Love, the gallery’s new group show.

Setting the mood for visitors as they enter the exhibit is a small drawing, “Sharing,” by Brenda Hill. Two children, brother and sister, sit together, united in their siblings’ camaraderie. Their backs are to the viewer, so we don’t see what they are sharing, but we can guess their deep affection for each other. The artist defied the common convention than love should be bright and colorful. “I love to create emotions and expressions using only subtle shades of grey to black, letting your heart and mind visualize the colors,” she told the Independent.

Colors are also muted in Diane Oser’s painting, “Alaskan Mystery,” a piece that reflects the artist’s fascination with the north and its fog-shrouded, flower-studded meadows. “I painted this after visiting Alaska,” she said. “I was enraptured by the beauty of the landscape … there was so much mist and greyness…. It’s all about [the] love of what you see.”

In contrast to Oser’s lyrical exploration of nature, Jocelyne Hallé’s photograph “Hugs!” highlights the artist’s sense of humor, combined with her whimsical view of the mundane. In the photo, several starfish cuddle by a rock on the shore of English Bay; their purples and reds an explosion of colors. Hallé remembered, “I was with friends visiting from Quebec City, and, when I saw this group, I said, ‘Look! The starfish are hugging!’”

Another tongue-in-cheek piece is Jaime Murdoch’s “Love Tutu.” The young Salt Spring Island artist’s creation looks like a seamstress’ manikin, dressed in a pink fluffy tutu with many petals, like a huge upended peony. Each petal of the tutu is a real love letter, transferred onto a scrap of silk. Each letter is one the artist received from admirers during her adolescent years: “These words of devotion ... paint a picture of our couple-centred culture, where fairy tales inform the dynamics of our romances and our idea of love…. My piece is a way of letting go of my puppy loves,” Murdoch said with a smile.

The centrepiece of the show, a large Melenie Fleischer’s painting called “Love’s Embrace,” depicts a traditional love embrace: a man, a woman, and love shimmering between them. Done in the muted palette of grey, the painting hangs in a place of honor in the gallery, but the couple depicted, absorbed in their private joy, turn their backs to viewers.

Backsides seem to be popular in this show. In Peppa Martin’s photograph “Square Dancers,” we don’t see the dancers’ faces or even their heads. The swirling skirt of the female dancer in the foreground sparkles with the energy of the dance, while her partner’s hand on the small of her back, the only detail of him visible to the viewers, conveys his tenderness and support. Martin explained that the image was shot at the B.C. Square Dancing Festival in Penticton in the summer of 2006. “I have been a dancer all my life,” she said. “I love dance.”

Another piece based on the artist’s love of dance is Pnina Granirer’s “Embrace.”

“I have worked on and off in the last decade with the concept of love, mainly love between a man and a woman,” Granirer said. “This drawing is based on a photograph taken from [John Alleyne’s] Schubert, a performance by Ballet B.C…. To me, this pose symbolizes the intimate closeness of two people in love.”

Vladimira Fillion-Wackenreuther’s tapestry “Mars” represents another aspect of love: family love. The weaver had long wanted to create a tapestry of Mars but she needed people to populate it. “My daughter sent me pictures from Europe, with my granddaughter and my son-in-law,” she said. “And I knew they will be my people on Mars. A big strong man and a little girl. The strong and the future together.”

But artists don’t always need images of people to talk about love. Leonard Shane’s love for Israel manifests in his watercolor “Jerusalem.”

Yuri Elperin’s large and intense piece “Setting Off” is an abstract composition, echoing his love of jazz. The painting seems to throb with its own melody; its syncopated rhythm reflected in the interconnected splashes of color in the lower half of the panel. The top half is all flowing shapes and intertwined forms: a cello fragment, a dancing flame, a woman’s heart, all “movements emulating a jazz improvisation,” said the artist. “Through my visual essays, I aspire to create metaphors for the presence of music.” The painting was inspired by an eponymous jazz piece by Daniel Levin. It was fitting that the musicians entertaining the guests during the opening night set up their instruments beside Elperin’s display.

Showcasing the work of 27 artists, there’s much more to It’s All About Love. To see what it’s all about, visit the Zack Gallery before the show closes on June 12.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She’s available for contract work. Contact her at [email protected].

^TOP