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Curators' Picks
 | | Bette Linderman, Getting Through Monday (No. 4), 2012 Assemblage, 39 x 16 x 8 inches, Courtesy of the Artist |
Each year, I know I can count on a beautiful work on paper from Bette Linderman for the auction. So, when she sent the image of this sculpture, I assumed it was a painting or photograph. It was certainly a departure from the work I knew, but I never thought this 2-D artist would be making sculpture! But, that's the fun part about the auction (and my job!) - artists continue to evolve, experiment, break out and surprise us.
Of course, when she came in to deliver the work, I just had to ask what had gotten into her. As she explained it, this work reflects the trials, tribulations and frustrations of taking care of aging parents. One of the dispensers is filled with all forms of medication: pills, liquids, lozenges, ointments, and syringes. The other dispenser is filled with individual containers of alcohol: gin, whiskey, tequila, Grand Marnier, etc. She didn't provide specifics about who was using which "medication," but I have my own theory and I will leave you to your own conclusion.
- Cathy Kimball  | |
Charlotte Kruk, Stacked, 2013, Recycled mixed media, 72 inches height, Courtesty of the Artist
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Many of us are familiar with Charlotte Kruk's candy couture - elaborate clothing made from hundreds of candy wrappers - including a strapless, body hugging Flamenco dress made with peanut butter M&M bags and a Marie Antoinette-era gown comprised of C&H Cane Sugar bags and bottles of vanilla extract. While Charlotte is a self-proclaimed scavenger of cast-off consumer packaging, she gets a lot of help from her art students at Lynbrook High School in San Jose. They even donated their extracted teeth for her sculpture Wisdom Tooth Fairy. Charlotte's auction sculpture is among her most recent work and reveals the diversity of the items she collects. Stacked is a multi-colored totem constructed of cookie tins, coffee cans, and tea containers, many of which are relics of a bygone era. And, while you may marvel at how she was able to collect so many to make this sculpture, you should know that this represents one in a series of tin container sculptures!
- Cathy Kimball  | |
Modesto Covarrubias, (left) Home Body 4.38.2009, 2009, Ink on paper, 19 x 13 inches; (right) Home Body 819.43.2009, 2009, Ink on paper, 19 x 13 inches, Courtesy of the Artist
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Modesto Covarrubias is a multi-disciplinary artist whose oeuvre includes drawings, paintings, prints, sculpture, installation, photography, and performance art. Covarrubias' two elegant ink drawings intrigue me, with their curious forms made of dense networks of lines coalescing into solid yet abstracted masses. The imagery first appears to be a cocoon or part of knitted clothing. The actual inspiration for these drawings (from the Home Body series), originated from the artist's visit to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. What Covarrubias observed there, and was later haunted by in dreams, was the collection of taxidermy birds, tagged and displayed in one drawer, while the birds' nests were fully intact and displayed in a separate drawer. This inspired the artist to contemplate the human need to create surroundings which offer comfort and protection, and further explore ideas about connections - between home and body, between creation and creator, and between the need to make or build and the need to preserve. Covarrubias previously studied Architecture and Photography, and in 2009 earned his MFA in Studio Art from Mills College in Oakland. In 2010, his site-specific installation, Liminal was featured at the ICA, and he was later selected for ICA's Artist-in Residence program where he created a set of limited edition prints. This year, Covarrubias' work was selected by Senator Jim Beall for inclusion in the 2013-14 California Contemporary Art Collection exhibit in the State Capitol. The artist grew up in San Jose and currently lives in Berkeley. -Donna Napper
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Amy Ellingson, No. 082007.01, 2007, Graphite and gouache on stonehenge paper, 41 x 41 inches framed, Courtesy of the Artist
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Another beautifully patterned drawing in this year's auction exhibition is a graphite and gouache piece by San Francisco-based artist Amy Ellingson. Her work is largely about technique and the dichotomy between "lightning-fast process of digital rendering," and the painstaking means by traditional practices associated with painting and drawing.
Ellingson always begins a piece by using the computer to create a vocabulary of simple forms that are digitally manipulated. This often results in oil paintings having interrelated layers of repeating geometric forms. Her drawings, such as this one, are based on details and versions of the compositions found in her paintings. I'm astonished to learn that Ellingson has in fact assiduously rendered, by hand , the several rows of up to ten to twenty layers of thin lines using a tiny brush. The overall resulting image is as much dynamic as it is hypnotic. Although the work appears to be mechanically produced, closely inspect the drawing when you're in the gallery and you will see subtle evidence of the maker's hand.
Ellingson's work is found in public and corporate collections such as The Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, San Francisco; The Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; Oakland Museum of California; and San Jose Museum of Art. The artist is currently working on a mosaic wall project at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO), commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission. In May 2014, the ICA will feature Ellingson's work in a solo exhibition.
-Donna Napper ____________________________________________________________________________
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