October 16-22, 2003

art

Down to Earth

Andrew Yff, Winter (2002), 21 by 16 by 11 inches, rubber casters, forged and fabricated steel.

An exhibit at the Schuylkill Center fuses the natural and artificial worlds.

by Robin Rice

There are two or perhaps three obvious interpretations of "Unearthed," the title of a small exhibition juried by Warren Angle for the Schuylkill Center. All are germane. The most obvious possibilities relate to the venue itself: a facility for environmental education. The four artists Angle selected from an open call for entries present individual but compatible visions of the natural world: either as an environment twisted and endangered by technology, or a realm of unrecognized or unacknowledged magic hiding in plain sight. A third interpretation relates to the artists themselves. Philadelphia Sculptors, an organization with the mission of promoting professional sculptors and sculpture, partnered with the Schuylkill Center in organizing this exhibition, which perhaps reveals contemporary sculpture to new audiences.

Interestingly, three of the four selected artists are showing wall-based work -- a wise choice for the small exhibition space and one that reminds viewers that sculpture is a very elastic term. Andrew Yff, the only man and the only presenter showing freestanding work (most likely unrelated facts), reinvents the wheel. Actually, he uses old wheels in inventive ways, in metal sculptures of plants incorporating black rubber wheels on casters. Each of the four pieces Yff is showing utilizes these elements differently. It’s amusing to see this relatively clumsy device, the caster, which we have all cursed when it frustratingly refused to go our way, incorporated in graceful, almost art nouveau forms. Eight is a plant on wheels; perhaps it can roll away from unfriendly environments. In Winter, a sequence of graduated casters suggest buds on a twining arched stem.

Like a geode with a coarse, bland exterior and jewel-like interior, Laura Moriarty’s encaustic paintings on split, bark-covered logs contrast outside and inside. The opaque dry texture, patterning and muted color of seasoned bark frame the translucent color-saturated sheen of wax layered over the log’s flat, cut surface space.

A trio of horizontal split logs, each with an unrelated title and different compositional treatment, almost reads as a single relief work, while the chunky bold Wedge, with an encaustic-healed vertical crack, is more inescapably an object. Allowing wax to drip at the edges of the piece, Moriarty evokes a variety of references through meandering, bordered zones that suggest colored minerals like agates, as well as relief maps or weather maps, a persistent theme in her work. The common feature among all the pieces here is clearly defined tonal shapes that build toward darker or more intensely colored centers.

Best in Show, Lisa Murch’s wall-mounted grid of 30 slightly anthropomorphic, plant-based critters, is almost too facile. Her use of glass eyes -- though they are high-quality eyes, not cheap plastic googly-eyes -- reinforces the Mr. Potato Head nature of the work. On the other hand, Murch’s palm-size amalgamations of leaves, seed pods and vines into imaginary insects, some more plausible than others, is meticulous. The grace of these delicate surreal beings will endear them to viewers.

Karen Stone is one of the city's most persistent and inventive assemblage artists. Her miniature vignettes on peninsular shapes that protrude from the wall might be a summation of other works in "Unearthed": individual but altered flora and fauna in familiar settings. Silver-leafed cattle or fish share a natural landscape with gold-leafed reindeer or buildings and bits of real vegetative material. The relative value of everyday things is distanced in these tiny dioramas, which gently invite us to take a similar long view.

In this limited space, sculpture that is both thoughtful and visually satisfying begins conversations about issues relating to nature and our relationship to it without prepackaging easy, preachy solutions. It’s a good reason to visit the delightful Schuylkill Center if you haven’t already done so. An outdoor installation by Lydia Hunn, "Encompassing Woods," adds a novel experience of the hiking trails.

Unearthed

Through Nov. 30, The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy's Mill Rd., 215-482-7300

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