THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407080126
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Art review
SOURCE: BY VIRGINIA VAN HORN, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
THE FORMER Famous department store at High and Court streets in Portsmouth soon will be bustling with art students instead of customers. In January, it will house Tidewater Community College's new centrally located art department.
Thus, the Famous will become The Visual Arts Center.
In honor of its new neighbor and in anticipation of an artistic renaissance in the city, The Arts Center of the Portsmouth Museums has mounted ``Whatever Comes Next,'' an exhibit of recent work by the TCC art faculty.
The department's vitality is indicated by the diversity of work on display. Given the freedom to experiment in a variety of media, the seven artists are able to pursue a number of nontraditional directions.
In general, there seems to be little interest in orthodox realism or in the straightforward reproduction of visual reality. Instead, the world is interpreted through the artists' individual sensibilities in historical, sociological and autobiographical ways.
George Tussing, who teaches art history, shows the most diverse body of work, ranging from the early '70s to the present. Early on, he produced Cezanne-influenced paintings of the regional landscape. More recently, he has concentrated on the human figure.
His ongoing series of charcoal life drawings culminates in two monumental portraits of Kafka and Chopin. These large canvases, handled in a vigorous, agitated manner, are like black-and-white mug shots. ``Chopin'' is anxious and wary, while ``Kafka'' is imperturbable and gaunt.
Anne Iott's artist's book ``Xerox Zen: 49 Experiences'' provides a respite from the congestion of the main gallery. Iott, art department chair as well as a nationally recognized book artist, draws on Oriental philosophy to create an infinitely variable work of art.
In a separate cubicle, a wooden box with rice-paper lid rests on a low table. Inside are 49 beige matboard tablets, each printed with a single object - feather, ginko leaf, zipper, old spoon, Mickey Mouse suspenders, lock of hair in an envelope, etc. These humble objects - which are sometimes homely and often domestic - suggest a nostalgic narrative, its sequence chosen by the viewer.
Robert Hawkes, who teaches drawing, also works in a gestural style. In his case, the painterly handling is combined with modern computer technology. The loose, fluid appearance of Hawkes' computer-manipulated drawings runs counter to the kinds of images normally expected from computer art.
While the technology is modern, his imagery has ties to the 19th century. Gargoyles, guilt-ridden figures and catastrophe in foreign lands are part of the vocabulary of Romantic art. ``Amnesty Poem Number 1'' and ``Middle East Dead Numbers 1 and 2,'' in particular, are similar to the drawings of Eugene Delacroix in both style and subject matter.
Ceramic vessels by Harriette Laskin investigate the nature of clay and its roots in the earth. The ``Drape Series'' of organic, slab-formed containers suggests the suppleness of clay before it's fired into a durable form. While the ``Drape Series'' is fluid and gentle, Laskin's ``Earth Series'' is monolithic. These brown vessels with simple geological shapes are incised with white lines reminiscent of topography.
Laskin, a ceramics teacher, shares with design instructor V. Bene Wilson an interest in the history of mark-making. Laskin's ``Pattern Series'' reinterprets an encyclopedia of international decorative designs. Wilson's paintings are based on ancient glyphs; her ``Ancient Messages Series'' was inspired by Nordic runes and Oriental calligraphy.
Wilson's ethereal paintings are in sharp contrast to design teacher Craig Nilsen's lush, dynamic panels. De Chirico comes to mind when looking at these works, with their glossy, gemlike surfaces, mysterious characters and intimations of autobiography.
The exhibition's most pointed social critic is photographer Ed Gibbs. From his ``Mr. Funny Pants'' series of jockey shorts covered with fish hooks to his neo-Victorian ``Revisionist Portfolio'' - Gibbs' sarcastic photographs skewer notions of masculinity, censorship and the American Dream. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
George Tussing's portrait of Kafka is on view at the Portsmouth
Museums.
by CNB