Sunday, July 13, 2008 UNM Exhibits Will Make Your Day By Wesley Pulkka For
the Journal
The University of New Mexico Art Museum is hosting three strong shows including the "Contemporary
Art Society: Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition," "Ukiyo-e: Worlds in Passing" (Japanese wood block prints) and "Big Stuff:
Works from the Permanent Collection" (a mixed-media group show). All three shows make the museum a must-visit venue
this summer, but this review will focus on the Contemporary Art Society exhibit. The Contemporary Art Society of New
Mexico was founded in 1988 as a nonprofit group dedicated to supporting the contemporary visual arts community. Membership
activities include visiting artists' studios, attending exhibitions, collecting art, sponsoring educational programs, visiting
major collections and supporting New Mexico arts institutions. The handsome presentation features 54 works from 23
collectors. The exhibit only includes works by artists who were visited by CAS members during the past 20 years. The
show has an overall bias toward abstract and nonobjective work but Tim Prythero's three-dimensional "Diner #10" would whet
the appetite of any illusion-loving realist. Prythero has been making beautifully crafted and detailed miniature architectural
and automotive vignettes for many years and his work keeps getting better. Prythero's works are reminiscent of model
railroad scenes and natural history museum dioramas but remain unique in scale and intention. In "Diner #10" Prythero includes
a fire hydrant, a well-worn mailbox and a newspaper vending box complete with newspapers. Exterior details include
weeds randomly growing in sidewalk cracks, a dirty striped awning and a foot-wiping metal grid in front of the entry door
that features a stainless steel kick plate along its bottom. The complex interior features advertising logos, a neon
sign, menu items, countertop and crooked Venetian blinds. The whole recreates the character, look and feeling of a real diner
while retaining its identity as a work of art. At the other end of the illusionist spectrum is "Small Mirage Study
#5" by Larry Bell. His abstract work utilizes wrinkled sheets of plastic film that are subjected to a deposit of vaporized
metal in a vacuum. When the sheets are flattened and adhered to a flat surface the memory of the original wrinkles is retained. Bell
has been using a large vacuum chamber for works in glass, paper, plastics and other materials since 1968. His Taos studio
is part alchemical laboratory, manufacturing facility and art workshop. Bell reopened his Venice Beach studio several years
ago and has re-established himself as an international art star. Karen Yank is represented by "Continuous Experience,"
a circular stainless steel sculpture that emblemizes seasonal change and other life cycles. The beautifully crafted piece
is part of a long series based on the circle. Yank has completed many large commissions, including the stunning Coors
and Interstate 40 pedestrian overpass project. The impact of her work continues to grow. Yank balances her career between
public commissions and exhibition-scale works for collectors. There are other fine sculptures by Ed Haddaway, Tom
Barrow, Tom Waldron and Skip Graham. Emmi Whitehorse offers "#511 Kin Nah-Zin," a gorgeous and airy abstract mural
that is more spirit than substance. The "Edge of Space" by Kim Arthun is another fine two-dimensional piece that presents
an abstract panorama of tonal values. Painter Kevin Tolman wades in with "Summer Balancing Act," a mixed-media piece
with allusions to a Taoist view of nature. His studio near Old Town is surrounded by large trees that house birds, insects,
squirrels and other creatures. Their natural ambience invades Tolman's abstractions. My favorite critter in this show
is Russell Adams' "Field Chicken," a wood sculpture that would fit into any modernist collection. It has elements of folk
art, early constructivist ideas; a sense of humor and a nice use of color make the small piece come alive. It's not
a literal depiction of a chicken but it captures the essence of chickenhood. An ambitious collector or curator might want
to get a bid in on Adams' whole body of work. It could be a career-making acquisition.
