THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9504010035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
IN THE CATALOG for the exhibit ``Still Working: Underknown Artists of Age in America'' - opening today in Virginia Beach - the word ``youthfulness'' appears just once.
It shows up in curator Stuart Shedletsky's description of the art of Claire Falkenstein, a California painter in her late 80s.
``Her work took a very conscious move toward a youthful, almost childlike perspective,'' Shedletsky said last week. Other than that, he shied from the word - in the same way the rest of the culture, particularly the art market, rears from old age.
``It's important that people not admire the show for its youthfulness. What it is is artful, not youthful,'' he said.
To call it youthful implies that young is better.
``It isn't.''
For Shedletsky, who is 50, boosting an appreciation for mature artists whose careers have continued for decades is what ``Still Working'' is all about.
The New Jersey artist and curator will be at the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts today for the opening of ``Still Working,'' a national touring show of 105 works by 32 artists.
New Yorker Sherman Drexler (b. 1925) paints nudes on marble. Chicago artist Vera Klement (b. 1929) coaxes ``image into being'' in her expressionistic oils on canvas. Constance Cohen (b. 1921) of Evanston, Ill., makes dreamlike paintings that suggest subconscious undercurrents.
Today at 2 p.m., a panel discussion on age and creativity features Harry Rand, senior curator of the National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Thomas C. Gordon Jr., retired justice of the Virginia Supreme Court; Virginia Beach/New York painter Betty Herbert; and Shedletsky. A reception follows.
From the exhibit's first stop at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington in June, ``Still Working'' has not garnered the warm-and-fuzzy response Shedletsky envisioned.
``I thought everybody would just love the show. I was very surprised when it was seen as radical,'' Shedletsky said.
The idea first came to him in 1981, while talking with the late New York painter Oli Sihvonen in his studio.
Shedletsky had just left a significant New York gallery because of the dealer's waning interest in him. In seeking a new gallery, it became apparent to him that, at age 37, he was seen as too old for the market.
In Sihvonen, he saw one solution to that dilemma. In the catalog, he wrote:
``Oli received little attention for his jazzy, visually witty works, despite the soulful certainty of them. No stranger to the New York art world, he understood its capricious, political and mercurial nature and within it found himself an island of relative obscurity.
``He cushioned his disappointment in a mix of self-righteous anger, ironic humor, and wisdom, but mostly he put it aside to begin a new series of paintings that were burning to become.''
Sihvonen's attitude typifies the artists in ``Still Working.''
To put together the show, Shedletsky visited hundreds of artists over the age of 60 in places as diverse as Michigan, Maryland and California.
``Some very good art was being done by a large population, and it wasn't being looked at,'' he said.
His search supported his instincts. Terrific, unknown art was out there.
He talked the Parsons School of Design in New York into organizing the traveling show, then had trouble landing funding. In the end, all the money came from one person - New York real estate broker Julien Studley.
Studio visits were like dropping onto different planets.
He recalled visiting San Francisco painter Julius Hatofsky (b. 1922), who makes huge, atmospheric oil paintings.
``He looks a little like James Joyce. Such a withdrawn gentleman. I spent an hour in his studio, with him in total silence. He seemed sort of suspicious. It was hard to be in this stranger's studio, and have him not say a word.''
When he first visited Constance Cohen, Shedletsky was at her home to see her husband George's paintings.
``Meanwhile, she was dutifully serving lunch. And I noticed all these wonderful paintings around the house he wasn't showing me.''
They were hers. Shedletsky invited her to show, and not her husband. Part of the reason, he said, was ``she was more underknown than he was.''
Soon after that 1991 visit, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Still, she visited the show last fall at the Chicago Cultural Center.
Cohen died a few weeks ago.
``Really sad,'' Shedletsky said. ``She was like a lovely bird. As a painter, she was such a feminine spirit. She painted about her womanhood all her life, without any flags to bear or programs to hand out.
``Her husband told me he thought the show really gave her life, sustained her fully more than a year.
``Look on page 39,'' Shedletsky said, indicating Cohen's painting of figures swimming laps in a pool. It implies a truth about human existence - our essential aloneness as we push along in parallel worlds.
``Isn't that beautiful? It's a dream she's painted. She stops when the dream is achieved.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
``Final Word'' by Frederick Hammersley.
``Self Portrait with Gun'' by Don Baum is part of the exhibit
``Still Working.''
by CNB