Shaping Visions @ MKAC

The show currently up in the gallery at Maude Kerns Art Center, Shaping Visions, features work by Portland-based graphic designer/artist Craig S. Holmes in conjunction with work by MKAC's namesake, artist and educator Maude Kerns. There is a definite line of similarity between the two artists' work, but first lets look at Craig S. Holmes.

Holmes' seems to be interested in constructing images that exist between a push and pull of real and fictitious space. In almost every piece on view, there are elements that can be read as accurate as well as mind-bending, labyrinthine and futuristic. Interspersing his drawings with elements of transportation, landscape, media, business and industry, his work "seeks to express the simple beauty and balance in the complexity of what he calls the 'structured chaos of modernism'." The work is clearly inspired and drawn from the architectural rendering style and is pleasantly illustrative, cool and crisp. 

Many of the pieces are on elongated panels which appear to have been distressed or scratched. In "Lost" and "The Farm," two of these stretched images on panel, complimentary blue and orange are lain down in washy, watery acrylic layers, with hidden elements like an American flag and televisions. Truly the combination of imaginary structure with a style that signals as concrete achieves Holmes intent to "picture a possibility others have not considered, to impact the mental landscape." 

Maude Kerns was an Oregonian and successful female artist who showed her work nationally and internationally in the mid-20th century, and was the first head of the University of Oregon Art Education department from 1921-1947. Kerns was devoted to "the search for the universal and spiritual in relation to art," which is evident in her paintings. Non-objective, both geometric and oftentimes biomorphic, her paintings reflect an intense study of color, structure, space and form. More abstract and less rigid than that of Holmes' work, she paints a variety of geometric shapes and forms, from glowing spheres and undulating lines to rigid or swooping rectangles. 

My favorite painting of Kerns' in the show, Autumn Moon (not dated), is harmony in fall hues. The crimson, magenta, yellow, and ochre vertical rectangles are luminous. The paint is applied in dapples, almost an aggressive form of Pointillism, having the shimmering effect of the afternoon sun setting through a prismatic window. 

Autumn Moon

Although I normally don't respond well to rather chunky, dried oil paintings such as Kerns', her dedication to finding the spirituality and beauty in non-objective painting is inspiring for an artist of her time. Showing her work in conjunction with that of Craig S. Holmes seemed to be a natural collaboration, as work by both of the artists is suggestive of geometry, invented spacial environments, exteriors and interiors, and harmonious color. Holmes and Kerns invite the viewer into their imagined pictorial space to travel through and interact with their angles, shapes, planes, and windows. 

Show is open from January 13th to February 10th 2012

Gallery hours:

Monday to Friday: 10.00 AM - 5.30 PM, Saturday: 12.00 PM - 4.00 PM