Pop Goes the Easel
By Tom Wachunas
“You’re only given a little spark of
madness. You mustn’t lose it.”
- Robin
Williams
EXHIBIT: Before the Streetlights Come On – Work
by Kat Francis and Steve Ehret, to July 27, 2018, Tuesday and Thursday 2:00
p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at The Hub Art Factory, 336 6th Street NW,
downtown Canton / 330–451-6823 /
Once again, I
apologize for this late entry, as this exhibit at The Hub Art Factory is
quickly approaching the end of its run. But I’ve been, uhm… really busy of
late.
Anyway, after
reading Dan Kane’s July 5 Repository piece on artist couple Kat Francis and
Steve Ehret (click on the link above), I thought for a while how it might be
interesting to be a fly on a wall in their home after they’ve each been making
something. Do they have regularly-scheduled joint critique sessions on their
latest projects? Is their exchange thick with arcane artspeak or deep
philosophizing about compositional dynamics and iconographic content?
Maybe, maybe not.
In any case, this delightfully eye-popping exhibit offers plenty of evidence
that they inspire and influence each other. The oeuvre of one comfortably
complements the other while remaining individually true to a discrete graphic
methodology, mode of presentation, and personal aesthetic identity. Here is a
memorable gathering of distinct yet compatible signature styles.
Looking at the exhibit can be a little like
eavesdropping on the couple’s observances
of people and occurrences in their urban neighborhood. Imagine the titles of their pieces as being
snippets of conversation, or shared remembrances, some fond, some edgy. “When
Tony was four he got hit by a pigeon while his head was sticking out the
passenger side window”; “Our neighbor Rick is a creep”; “Dancing in a rainy day
parking lot”; “Earl loved Mr. Ed growing up so much he almost turned into him”;
“My neighbor Jay”; “You know that one guy who’s always sitting in his driveway
watching cars drive by?”; “Ill communication”; “The one green patch”.
The organically-shaped,
low relief configurations by Kat Francis – acrylic and graphite on wood
cut-outs – have an adventurous, storybook feel, often emanating a tender and
thoughtful spirit. The acrylic paintings on panels by Steve Ehret, on the other
hand, might be a storybook as well, though one of a relatively more bold if not
lurid sort. His renderings of heads and faces can seem like caricatures of
caricatures, as if picking up where funky underground counterculture comix from
the late-1960s to mid-1970’s left off. His technique is deftly tight and fluid
all at once. Call it a controlled abandon - freakishly colorful and, like this entire
show, unabashedly fun.
PHOTOS, from top: 1. Night
Crawlers by Steve Ehret / 2. Keep the bubbly coming, by Steve Ehret / 3.
Baby Squirrel Brigade, by Kat and
Steve / 4. Dancing
in a rainy day parking lot, by Kat Francis / 5. Ill communication, by Kat Francis / 6. My
neighbor Jay, by Kat Francis / 7. Photo
of Kat and Steve by Karen Reynolds
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