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Sept. 23, 2005
Exhibit in permanence
Contrast of artistic styles in unique Zack show.
BAILA LAZARUS
It would be hard to find two more contrasting art forms exhibited
side by side than those currently at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack
Gallery. In Metal and Lace – A Divine Encounter, paintings
by Carolyn Kramer depict soft, feminine forms, lacy dresses and
often ethereal qualities. Sometimes only wisps of media delineate
the organic forms of her current subject – the urn being used
as a metaphor for the feminine form. Next to these softer images
are the heavy, solid, metal figurines built with scrap metal by
Ivan Gasoi. Though small, they look almost too heavy to lift.
While the art gallery's press release suggests humor as a common
thread between the two artists, I found that theme slightly stretched.
Kramer even admits that she added several new comical pieces recently
in order to connect to Gasoi's whimsical designs. In fact, it is
the strength and permanence of Gasoi's sculpture that is mirrored
in Kramer's artwork. She is, after all, depicting the urn, a vessel
which has been around since ancient times and which represents the
endurance and strength of a woman as a nourisher and creator of
life.
"The woman is basically a goddess," said Kramer, who has
been an artist and art educator for more than 30 years. "If
you look at the Romans and Greeks and various mythology, the woman
was represented in the form of a vessel. A woman has an inside that
is filled with children. A vessel has an inside that's filled with
water or other liquid. It's a perfect metaphor to expound on the
quality of the female."
The variety of Kramer's artwork makes for an intriguing exploration
even apart from its content. Her work includes monoprints, paintings,
rubbings and photo-based etchings and uses oil paint, graphite,
gold leaf and even sand. But the most intriguing material she uses
is encaustic, a durable, plaster-like material, originally used
to paint the sides of ships. A combination of oil paint, turpentine
and heat, the encaustic is put on as a warm liquid. It can be used
to create smooth or textured surfaces and is a perfect medium for
transforming a solid urn into a lacy dress, such as in "Ladies
in Lace" or the hilarious "Solo Me-O" or "Tra-La-La."
Kramer's background, as an artist, educator and founding member
of the Arts Umbrella, is also in contrast with that of Gasoi, who
has worked as a dentist for more than 30 years, developing his metal
work as a pastime.
"I had this fascination with fusing metal, so I went to BCIT
and took a welding course and it was a lot of fun," said Gasoi.
"Pretty quickly, I got into figurative art, starting off with
stick figures, and it just evolved. It took about four years to
evolve into something I would admit to."
Rummaging around automotive shops, he collects odd bits, hoping
to find the perfect piece as a hat for "Don Quixote" or
curly hair for "Metallic Venus."
Half the fun of viewing his work, aside from appreciating its intrinsic
humor, is recognizing the different parts he uses to make a figure,
whether it's fused nails, transmission bearings, screens, flywheels
or auto-timing chains. Incredibly, it seems every piece of a sculpture
was created especially for its job; a remarkable feat for someone
whose tools of the trade consist of a torch and a cutting wheel.
Metal and Lace runs until Oct. 27 at the Jewish Community Centre
of Greater Vancouver, 950 West 41st Ave. For more information, contact
Reisa Schneider at 604-257-5111, ext. 244, or e-mail [email protected].
Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, photographer and
illustrator living in Vancouver.
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