Clearing the glass
Kristen Joy Emack at Gallery Kayafas and "Limitless Translations" at Fountain Street Gallery
JAN 7, 2024
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Excerpt below:
Rebecca Skinner, "House of Blues." Photograph on aluminum, 'in “Limitless Translations” at Fountain Street Gallery.
I just saw “Limitless Translations: The Artist as Storyteller” at Fountain Street Gallery (here’s my review in the Globe). The artworks there were chosen by each artist as an emblem of their own particular brew of history, culture, family, aesthetic, materials, world view, and approach to making. It’s a poignant, personal member show in the wake of Fountain Street’s announcement that it will close on March 31.
Sylvia Vander Sluis, “Passage V,” mixed media. In “Limitless Translations” at Fountain Street Gallery.
A good artwork must stand on its own. It must be able to reach out and into a viewer without explanation.
Color is like candy for me, and I was drawn to painter Robert Sullivan’s enigmatic narratives made more mysterious by his abstract use of tone. I’m moved by the bruised presence of absence, and Rebecca Skinner’s lush photographs of abandoned buildings pulled me in. I loved Sylvia Vander Sluis’s “Passage V” (top), made to mark the transition of a loved one from life to death, partly because I was drawn to the making of it, and could imagine the solace found in crafting a such a vessel.
Robert Sullivan, "Altus." Oil on panel. In “Limitless Translations” at Fountain Street Gallery.
Good art conveys nuanced ideas, emotions, stories; it holds contradictions. An artist needs technical chops, a large and curious mind, and the patience to let a process unfold. An art object that hits home carries a piece of the artist’s soul. It’s not easy for anyone to clear the fog from the glass and let their soul shine through. How the artist got there (life experience, studio experience) is what makes the glass clear. It’s what imbues the art with juice.