Suspended Animations
By Tom Wachunas
Exhibit: Eco – New Work by Steve Ehret, at
Translations Art Gallery THROUGH JUNE 29, 331 Cleveland Avenue NW, downtown
Canton. Gallery hours are Wednesday Noon to 9 p.m. / Thursday-Saturday Noon to
5 p.m.
In the past, the
scenic content of Steve Ehret’s paintings was that of a fantastical, surreal
world typified by bizarre landscapes wherein bonhomie and malevolence seem to
coexist. It is a world where bug-eyed biomorphs reign supreme as they mingle
(and occasionally collide) with other beings both goofy and goulish. While
these characters could elicit our laughter at their theatrics, they could just
as often conjure nightmares.
In this new crop
of 12 very imaginative oil landscapes on wood panels, however, there’s not a
monster to be found. Nor, for that matter, are there any beings, benevolent or otherwise, who might be identified as
residents of the otherworldly panoramas Ehret depicts here.
But as the title
of the show implies, there’s plenty of evidence that some sort of population
lives in and interacts with these environs. Beyond their occasional evocations
of Tolkien’s Middle-earth, these locales have a history of their own. Titles of
the paintings, such as Franklin’s Cave
During Autumn, or Stew’s Landing, or
Blue Ridge, Years After the Landslide, give
us the sense that we are traveling in an ongoing narrative.
Greatly enhancing
this sensibility is the inventive presentation of the work. The paintings are
suspended from the ceiling. We don’t simply look
at them in the traditionally linear way so much as visit, walking through and among them. The experience is somewhat
cinematic. It’s all a wholly engaged unfolding, a magical tour of changing seasons,
variable light and atmospheres, shifting geographies and whimsical
architectures.
Ehret’s technical
style of fantasy naturalism isn’t overly fussy or obsessively detailed.
Unburdened by picayune concerns of hyper realism or trompe l’oeil illusionism, the paintings are nonetheless convincing
images of enchanting realities. These are, after all, paintings, and Ehret lets us know as much with facile, fluid brushwork
that infuses his surfaces with a remarkable lyricism.
Exciting travel plans and vacation getaways
have always been a commonly encountered subject in my summertime conversations.
But personal “vacation” and “travel” in that context have been absent from
my vocabulary for… years. Still, this
year I’m quite content to savor an adventuresome visit to the mind of Steve
Ehret.
PHOTOS (from top):
Franklin’s Cave During Autumn; Islands Of
Del Mar; Snowed In At Blue Hen; installation detail
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