THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606060202
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 26 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mary Ellen Riddle
LENGTH: 71 lines
Life creates unique impressions or patterns on us. It is impossible to keep those patterns from the art we create.
The threads of experience, like rain drawn to the dry root, weave their way into our artistic statements whether we want them to or not.
Such is life, and such are the vital watercolors of Russell Yerkes, who recently took first place at the Dare County Arts Council Spring Art Show.
You'll find hints to the Ocracoke artist's state of mind hidden in his watercolors of flora and fauna, on display at the Artists in Motion Gallery at the Ocracoke Coffee Company in Ocracoke.
Art stabilized Yerkes' life. He's had many lessons in pain, including his parents' divorce, death of siblings and abuse. Despite the rocky road of childhood, Yerkes held fast to his love for image-making. Painting became a refuge and eventually his therapy.
Watercolor has always been Yerkes' medium of choice, but the self-taught artist prefers to handle it in a nontraditional way.
While his subject matter is not out of the ordinary - he paints environmental scenes complete with wild and domestic cats, fish, frogs and pelicans - his approach to watercolor is in direct defiance to the very nature of the water-based pigments.
Yerkes controls the paint by working on dry paper and dries each layer of paint with a hair dryer. The medium's typical flow of color is stopped. Still, he achieves motion by using contrast, patterns and visual analogies.
The 41-year-old man is playful. He re-creates a gentler but wiser childhood by using brilliant color, and his compositions are mostly spontaneous.
``It's like watching a movie, 'cause you don't know what you're gonna see,'' he said of the creative process. ``It's not a job to me. You can see within the artwork that I'm having fun.''
Yerkes forms habitats where figure and ground become integrated. He understands that contrast is necessary to create unity.
As darks and lights vie for dominance and brilliant color saturate us to a state of surrender in his work, harmony is achieved.
This harmony is supported by a repetition of pattern. Similar swirls in a wing or coat of fur continue in a leaf or a bit of wood.
To call the work harmonious is not to say his art is without pain or an intense wariness, but rather that his open arms policy welcomes dichotomies.
``Life is tragic,'' he said. ``If we don't have tragedy, we don't learn.''
The sadness reflected in the eyes of a cat cannot be denied, nor can the smirk on the pelican's visage.
A look back through Yerkes' painting career will reveal similarities in subject matter and composition, but his color use is moving from heavy primals to a more lighthearted, pastel palette.
``The color sings,'' he said. ``It's got a rhythm to it.''
A snorkeling trip in the Virgin Islands also added a bit of rhythm to his work.
After viewing the underwater scene, he returned with a new perspective.
``My paintings changed,'' he said. ``They became 3-D, with a lot more movement.''
Yerkes will never forget the tragedies that occurred in his life. They flicker across the faces of his creatures like a silent film, or remain hidden in the patterns of his work, merging alongside his joys. His paintings are complete statements as a result.
``I've learned where I am at up here through my art,'' he said, tapping his head. ``I trust what I'm doing with my paintings. They won't let you down if I don't let it down. I just have to stay with it.'' MEMO: Russell Yerkes' watercolors are also on display Greenleaf Gallery
in Duck andNags ad, and Mako Mike's restaurant in Kill Devil Hills. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Russell Yerkes, who recently took first place at the Dare County
Arts Council Spring Art Show, uses watercolors to create natural
environments. by CNB