|
Indepth Arts News:
"psyche: Work by Three Artists"
2001-04-07 until 2001-05-20
Detroit Contemporary
Detroit, MI,
USA United States of America
psyche, Detroit Contemporarys last exhibition of
the season, explores the personality of the human
spirit with works by Tom Humes and Jo Powers
and sculptor Denise Whitebread Fanning.
Exhibiting in the first floor gallery, painter and art instructor Jo Powers (Royal Oak) examines the theatre of
private disputes gone public. Incorporating close up views of human heads while imposing a sense of
immediacy and confrontation, the artist attempts to express the energy of the figures. With her characters placed
in ambiguous environments, the works elicit a still frame sentiment while alluding to an undescribed situation.
Tom Bumes (Detroit) paintings represent a narrative produced in the context of a theatrical drama. Exhibiting
in the second floor gallery, Humes works, while possessing a staged aspect, depict moments of crisis or resolve.
The works reach beyond basic imagery to capture a sense of fantasy. The frames, themselves works of art,
constructed of old mirror frames, pieces of decorative wood pillars and other found objects add a unique
sculptural aspect to the paintings. Humes also includes small figurative hand carved sculptures in this exhibit.
Often carved from wooden chair parts and other wooden objects the figures reflect the paintings in a telling three-
dimensional format.
Denise Whitebread Fannings (Berkley) hanging installation in the brick room gallery made of over 100
translucent latex bird forms looms among large sculptural reliefs of fragmented human figures constructed of
cement, cast dirt and plaster. While the birds from the installation entitled Hung Up And Hollow act as
metaphor for human spirit, the life size sculptural reliefs, utilising various Egyptian style hieroglyphics and
purveying an appearance of mummification and wrapping, attempt to communicate the idea of self -preservation.
Fanning, a figure sculptor instructor at the Center For Creative Studies in Detroit also displays drawings in the
exhibit. In relating to the sculptural pieces, the two-dimensional works, constructed of various mediums including
gouache, pastels, latex paint and charcoal, involve birds and mummified figures in regimented fashion.
Related Links:
| | 
|
