"Material Matters" in show at Chelsea's River Gallery
Featuring the work of U-M Residential College art instructors Larry Cressman and Susan Crowell, the exhibit makes a virtue out of less and less by illustrating how more and more can be made out of nearly nothing through the diligent application of material.
Ann Arbor last saw Crowell's abstract biomorphic ceramics in September 2007 when she exhibited “Oneiric Artifacts” at the U-M Residential College Art Gallery. Her sculptures in this exhibit — like the ceramics in that earlier display of art — have unceasingly interesting curves that seemingly shape themselves.
Crowell says her “Nociceptor” series in this exhibit is a result of her recent participation in a cross-disciplinary program with physicians at the U-M Hospital. “In that program,” says Crowell, “I investigated the subject of chronic pain and our means of addressing it, deploying my training, artistic practice, and research into the function of nociceptors, the sensory neurons that interpret and convey pain as information.
“By deploying the intensely colorful and tactile character of ceramic materials,” concludes Crowell, “I am engaged in what Elaine Scarry calls ‘making the world’ — the transformation of pain into beauty, enlightenment, and grace, through the manipulation of form, material, and color.”
And what a world Crowell’s making out of her “pain receptors.” “Nociceptor: Green Pain Flavor No. 2,” “Blue Nociceptor: No Comfortable Position,” “Blibula: Orange Voluptuary,” and “Nociceptor — Heart Sutra,” are all prime examples of her uncanny ability to craft ceramics that are vaguely biological yet whose function is as much as mystery as is their atypical appearance.
Crowell’s highlight in the exhibit is her porcelain, industrial ceramic pigment “Halo II: Beannacht” installation, reminiscent of her “Phantasmagoria” series in that earlier “Oneiric Artifacts” show. This “Halo II” consists of ten rounded ceramic porcelains mounted on a River Gallery wall in an irregular oval. Running the color wheel from blue to red, and varying in size as much as they vary in color, “Halo II” is, definitely enough, a ceramic sort of halo.
Cressman’s minimalist sculpture, by contrast, is built through the patient accumulation of hundreds of sticks and twigs. Long one of this region's most interesting talents, Cressman's approach to art is as focused as it is unique.“My work arises,” says Cressman in his River Gallery artist’s statement, “from my exploration over time of making line real and physical — something that could go beyond the boundaries of flat, two-dimensional space — ‘drawn’ line that could actually be held in my hand as a physical object. Arriving at this point I realize I can build and construct my imagery as I edge into sculptural territory.”
If it makes any difference, Cressman’s art is thankfully (to borrow from his own words) still as edgy as ever. His contribution to this River Gallery display is six sculptures — each being an inventive variation on his repetitive motif. “Limbo,” for example, is a wall installation of hundreds of dogbane twigs touched up with graphite that have been hung together with pins to approximate looking into the heart of a minuscule grove of trees. While “Cane Drawing II” relies on the curvilinear interaction of raspberry cane with Cressman’s imagination to create an intricate faux floral design crafted solely by nature’s handicraft — with, of course, a healthy assist from the artist.
But the Cressman masterwork in “Material Matters” is his wall-sized “The Nature of Drawing V” where a 13x13 foot River Gallery wall has been tailored to create a subtly swaying network of slender, curvilinear intertwined silhouettes stunningly mirroring a complex dogbane twig structure through their restrained wave. Working at the exceedingly fine intersection of two-dimensional shadow and three-dimensional line, Cressman has created a memorable sculpture that’s surely as much one as it is the other.
“Larry Cressman/Susan Crowell: Material Matters” continues through Nov. 15 at the River Gallery, 120 S. Main St., Chelsea. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m., Sunday. For information, call 734-433-0826. John Carlos Cantú is a free-lance writer who reviews art for AnnArbor.com.