Despite having a highly unattractive flier, Eugene Collects, now showing at the Jacobs Gallery in Hult Center, is very charming. A showcase complimenting art owned and loaned by local collectors, the artists featured range from 19th century French print makers and Japanese brush and ink painters, to contemporary artists working in a variety of media.
The painting that greets you upon entering the show, Sherrie Wolf's Red Tulip with David, is undeniably attractive and surprising in its date of origin. A religious tableau of David holding Goliath's severed head is partially obscured by a still life of shining blood red tulips, reflective of the violence of the dangling head. The content and the way it is painted, traditional, realistic oils with an enamel-like sheen, would lead you to believe this is a long lost painting of Caravaggio's apprentice. However, it was painted in 2007. Placed as a totem of attraction in the entrance, above all else it spoke to the wonder and appreciation of the beautiful object, the passion and motivation of an art collector.
Another welcome, happy surprise was seeing work by a few "big names." There were two small drypoint etchings by Pierre Auguste Renoir (Renoir? In Eugene?), as well as another, really very perfect print by Albrecht Durer, Virgin and Child with Monkey (1498). Correct me if I am wrong but Renoir and Durer are not the usual suspects one sees around town. Seeing them in Eugene is a unique opportunity.
The show also included a print by American Pop artist Ed Ruscha, Just an Average Guy (1979). A horizontal panorama of a lone miniature man standing and facing the brink of nothing, emptiness, was both humorous and melancholy in its acceptance of ordinariness.
Another favorite was by artist Nicolas De Jesus, whose large print on amate bark paper, Pescadores, was a study in narrative. His figures communicate across the paper in a complex web of interaction, almost seeming to move across the dirt-earth landscape, presided over by a glowing red/orange orb of a sun.
I had criticized the faculty show The Long Now at the Jordan Schnitzer for being overwhelmingly diverse and dense without offering any explanation. Eugene Collects is diverse in a way that works because it is a celebration of the myriad ways art can be attractive, bringing collectors, people who care about art, together with its creators. It serves as a welcome reminder that those people, the collectors, still exist.
Eugene Collects is on show now until March 24, 2012.
Gallery Hours:
Tues-Friday: Noon-4pm
Saturday: 11am-3pm
One hour before all Hult Center performances
http://jacobsgallery.org/
http://www.sherriewolfstudio.com/index.html
http://www.edruscha.com/
http://www.californios.us/dejesus/
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