|
It's one
thing to see a dog wearing a knitted sweater or cats decked
out like a punk rock band. These are the cute indignities that
pet owners visit upon their quadruped wards, that have become
such happy attention fodder via the Internet if not seen on
TV or directly in public. Child's play, even if partially utilitarian.
But extrapolate the potential for artwork in that scene and
increase it by a magnitude of 50: Now you're closer to Malcolm
Bucknall territory; now you're standing in D Berman Gallery.
Bucknall creates full-sized
portraits, oil on canvas, of Elizabethan figures in the costumes
afforded by royals and gentry of the time: so much rich brocade,
so many swaths of beaded velvet, such depths of ruffed or lacy
texture and fur-lined finery adorning these bodies! Finery as
fine, in a different sense, as the paintbrushes that the artist
must have used to render such precise detail. But there are
no facial images of particular lords and ladies, kings and queens:
These painstakingly wrought figures support the heads of birds,
of toads, of dogs and cats and reptiles and even, a few times,
bizarre insect-mammal combinations that might have recently
immigrated from New Crobuzon. Well, until you get to Willie
Nelson.
"I'm never sure what
direction the latest painting is pointing to," says the
artist's statement, "but in this case, the latest is Willie,
so I may be searching for other iconic figures. Have artistic
license. Can time travel!"
And so there's the elder
statesman of local music royalty, looking like a court-attending
Lord Eggsanhammington or somesuch, a bright cactus flower in
his left hand, a guitar centering the heraldic device in the
background, a golden vireo below a banner proclaiming "I
didn't come here and I ain't leaving." It's fitting, it's
respectful, and it's a riot.
Also at this show, you'll
see Bucknall's recent forays into monotone oil painting, where
he's working a black-and-white-photography sort of style on
his nonhuman-headed subjects and lavishing a bit more obvious
humor and acknowledging what he calls "current popular
culture interests." These are smaller pieces, painted on
wooden panels, no less masterfully created and even more whimsical.
What they mostly are, once you get beyond being jarred by the
weirdness of the juxtapositions and the high quality of the
technique, is: enchanted and enchanting and, still, somehow,
very familiar.
back
to previous page
|