A Lesson in Grammar
By Jane Durrell · January 8th, 2014 · Visual Art
The gaping street-level space of the
Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery, attached to the Aronoff
Center for the Arts, is windowed on two sides, capped by two ceiling
heights (high and higher), set with columns and interrupted by a
staircase to the floor below and above. It’s a difficult space that
moves some artists into a creative frenzy of response. But not Melissa
Vogley Woods, whose Grammatical Errors currently occupies the
area handily and, for the most part, serenely unaware of surroundings.
(Two videos may be exceptions; more on them later.)
Woods is deeply involved in relationships
of what she calls “the form and materials of the common house,” and how
those elements in her hands can become “messy, malignant, hazardous and
bad,” as depicted in her artist’s statement. She is a gleeful
deconstructionist, accomplishing things one hardly knows the materials
are capable of. Paint, in particular, can leave its base to become a
skin with stretchability built in. Who knew?
The first piece to catch your eye,
entering from the Walnut Street door, might be “Tilted Ground, in
Position,” in which a house paint skin is essential to the work. A pine
table stands on one end, its four legs parallel to the floor, the
surface chiseled open to a degree that cancels out any normal function
of tables. The tabletop has, instead, become a frame for the pink flesh
of paint, set off by a bouquet of real flowers that have been dried and
coated with paint layers. The flowers fill holes made by shooting the
paint surface with a bow and arrow — we have to take the artist’s word
on this — and the flowers themselves are held in place with more paint , We’ve come a long way from a vase of flowers on a table.
Unsupported paint is also the predominate
element for “Falling Room,” in which lengths of pink, green and orange
paint, meant to represent studs in a wall, droop from their supports to
the chair to which they are pinned. Impermanence is a fact of life.
Woods doesn’t waste materials. Deeper in
the gallery we find the wooden section removed from the aforementioned
table of “Tilted Ground,” now serving as support for a pine chair that
has exaggerated bent loops for a back and holds on its seat a lyrical
twist of pale green foam. This piece is called “To Hold the Snare;” its
base is a wood frame like the studs that are the bones of a wall.
Nearby, for “Gesture is Liquid and Slippery Depending On Your
Perspective,” Woods has dissected a bed to form a propped up, lean-to
shelter, a sleeping bag handy beneath what’s left of the mattress.
Moving farther indoors for “Digging Out from Inside Blue Dresser
Depressor,” we see the most intimate of household furniture gouged out
to its blue-painted interior. In “Reclining Nude Has a Few Remarks,” all
the luscious nudes who have reclined for the benefit of male artists
through time get their own back by becoming the limp and bored elements
of a skeleton of a room.
A nice addition to the show is a line of
the artist’s process drawings for the works seen here; more are
available for viewing in the gallery office. These drawings let us see
Woods’ thinking develop; close attention to details of the bedroll, for
instance, may send you back to look at it again.
She’s also included a surprise ending.
Downstairs, tucked under the stairway, is the final piece: “If Walls
Could Break Themselves.” It’s a portion of house wall, folded in on
itself, providing a wrap for things unidentified within.
But those aforementioned videos,
“Monochrome Suite” and “Polychrome Suite,” what’s going on there? In
each, large bare feet appear, moving carefully but sensuously through
space that, if I read it right, mimics the gallery itself in greatly
reduced scale. Is this Woods’ reaction to the invitation to show there?
I’d like to think so.
All works in the exhibition were created
in 2013 and indicate that Woods is having a fine time dispensing with
received notions of materials. Her “grammatical errors” are intended,
witty and thought provoking. I have to quibble that understanding Woods’
work almost requires her notes on each piece. I thought the art itself
was supposed to supply the artist’s end of dialogue with viewer.
GRAMMATICAL ERRORS is on view at the Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery, 650 Walnut St., Downtown, through Feb. 23. Woods’ gallery talk takes place at 7 p.m. Jan. 29. More information at cincinnatiarts.org/weston-art-gallery.
