Mined Memories – Tangible Transience
By Tom Wachunas
“To my mind, one does not put oneself in
place of the past; one only adds a new link.” - Cy Twombly
“Artists are mystics rather than
rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.” - Sol LeWitt
EXHIBIT: Dreaming in
Reverse - works by Clare Murray Adams / at John Strauss Furniture Design,
236 Walnut Ave. NE in downtown Canton, THROUGH
APRIL 23, 2018 (my apologies for this late posting) / Monday-Friday 9 – 5,
Sat. 10 - 4
The second of the
two links above (the first being to Clare Murray Adams’ website) is to an
excellent article by Dan Kane on John Strauss’s contemporary aesthetic and his
uniquely handsome venue located in a revitalized, century-old building in
downtown Canton.
Climbing the creaky staircase to the second
floor gallery is to encounter a changed atmosphere. The airy elegance of the
main floor show room gives way to a vaguely haunted niche. It’s nothing spooky,
certainly, but more like an attic - a place packed away, a retreat from the
accoutrements of the present to those of another time. The gallery itself is
actually a converted hallway - long, tall, and wide enough to accommodate all
sorts of art, I would imagine. A
distinct presence seems to whisper in this physical space. For now, call it one
of remembrance and retrieval, and one which harmonizes quite effectively with
the spirit of Clare Murray Adams’ exhibition.
The selections here are from eight series of
her works, ranging in time from found object sculptures of the early 2000s (“…influenced by my love of Joseph Cornell
and the collection of objects that I have amassed,” she tells us in the
exhibit information sheet) to 2017-2018 drawings on paper and small collages on
wood panels. In appreciating the great diversity of media, techniques, and
processes that Adams engages, I found this, from her web site statement: “…Reflecting upon my art origins as a
contemporary quiltmaker, I can see that the use of various kinds of fabric,
stitching and appliqueing was the
foundation for the way in which I now work.”
There are no actual quilts hanging in
this exhibit, the dictionary definition of a quilt being “a bed coverlet of two
layers of cloth filled with padding (such as down or batting) held in place by
ties or stitched designs.” But consider
quiltmaking in a more expansive way, as a compositional concept. If you think
of it as an overall image-making sensibility beyond our typical associations
with decorative or functional objects, then you might better grasp the essence
of Adams’ absorbing visions. At the heart of her work is a psychological and
emotional thrust born from the act of layering and juxtaposing multiple
components, or conjoining variable materials – patching together pieces of something into a cohesive and very
intimate whole.
Adams draws those ‘somethings’ from her memories of people
and places, or past sketchbooks and journals. Or they can be abstract responses
to ideas explored in earlier artworks, at times incorporating remnants from
older pieces. Works such as “Anonymous” (from an eponymous 2017 series), for
example, deconstruct the formulaic look and method of a quilt into separate
tactile and painterly elements floating on, or stitched to, a nonspecific
plane.
“Last Season Sweet
Potatoes,” like many other pieces here, has a gestural spontaneity and
immediacy about it, replete with signs and markers laid out as if mapping a
route to an affectionately recalled event or discovery. Even her relatively
more austere black-and-white paintings exude a playful fondness for the
disarming simplicity of certain forms and textures.
In all, Clare
Murray Adams is a remarkably deft linguist, so to speak – a multilingual mystic
of a kind. There’s perceptual intrigue in the way she folds the literal into
the abstract, the tangible into the ephemeral. In the process, she articulates
a hybrid visual language suffused with poetry both visceral and sweet.
PHOTOS, from top: 1. Fly
Away Home / 2. Anonymous / 3. Last Season Sweet Potatoes
/ 4. Stone and Twine / 5. Resisting Today’s Reality / 6. Sunspots
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