Last Saturday the 20th of January I went gallery hopping with my daughter Sophie. We had a fantastic time and I learned a lot about what she likes and dislikes. We went to see the 500x Gallery's Expo 2007 show (review archived here) and the Chuck Close and Brian Fridge shows at Dunn and Brown Contemporary.

My daughter is very opinionated and clearly likes some types of art over other types. She was really creeped out by the Chuck Close exhibit and disliked even being in the same room with it. The larger than life portraits may have simply rubbed her the wrong way or melted her 3.5 year old brain, but nevertheless she much preferred Brian Fridge's work. Even at the time of this writing she saw the photos on this post and mentioned that it was the art she didn't like from last Saturday.

I liked Brian Fridge's work and I was also very impressed with Chuck Close's big prints.

I was really excited to get to see Chuck Close's work up close and in person. I have seen it in books and on web sites for some time and I can see how people who have not seen his work in person dismiss his work as somehow being digital or involving digital processes. After inspecting his works close up I could see how I would code a Chuck Close art generator, but I could also see that clearly he uses no digital processes in his work. He is clearly aware of modern printing processes and digital processes too, but he emulates them by hand.

Self Portrait, 2000, Chuck Close

From a distance Close's portraits look almost like photos of people through a shower door. The further you get away from the portraits the more photo realistic they appear. As you approach them they begin to appear more and more abstract.

Self Portrait, 2000, Chuck Close (detail of right eye)

Upon further inspection you can see that Close is using some nice color tricks combined with your eyes internal ability perceive and blend colors at a distance. As you move away from his portraits your eye averages and blends the colors much like it does when you look at printed halftone pattern image in a newspaper color photo. In fact, Close has emulated cmyk printing processes in the past so this may be exactly what he is doing here.

From the Dunn and Brown press release....."The exhibition consists of nine portraits; three large-scale color silkscreen prints, two large-scale black and white stenciled handmade paper prints and four smaller black and white linoleum etchings and Ukiyo-E woodcuts. Alex Katz, Lucas Samaras, James Siena, Lyle Anton Harris, and Chuck Close himself are among the many faces that line the gallery walls. Featuring images from 1991 to 2006, Chuck Close shows an evolution of Close’s various innovative printmaking techniques. As a master printmaker, Chuck Close devotes more labor and time to his prints than to all other mediums. While a painting may take him months to complete, a single print can take up to two years. Close has often referred to his admiration of the complex printmaking process as well as his respect for the close collaboration required to make a finished product. The significant relationships that he has developed with printmakers across the world has proved helpful since a spinal artery collapse left him paralyzed at the peak of his career. With limited mobility in his arms and hands, Close has forged ahead and remains a progressive painter, printmaker, and photographer in today’s art world."

Brian Fridge's work kept Sophie interested for some time. She did not want to leave his work when it was time to go. Her favorite was his Sequence 4.3 (pictured below). In Sequence 4.3 the bright spots move very slowly and seemingly randomly over the orange background. From the press release..."The scattered spots (appearing like suns or reflections of some other phenomena) form a symmetrical constellation for a brief moment and then move apart, their pre-programmed history determined." The symmetrical constellation is a recurring theme in some of his other prints as well.

Sequence 4.3, Brian Fridge

Also from the Dunn and Brown press release on Brian Fridge...."The series of photographs and video frame space and time with psychological and metaphysical significance. Place and passage are rendered symbolic through monochromatic color and figure/ground pictorial devices. "

If you are in town you want to go see these shows. Dunn and Brown Contemporary is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 am until 5:00 pm and by appointment. These shows run through February 10th.