Alert: This exhibition is scheduled to close on 12/16/06.In the current show at
Gallery Paule Anglim, an apt pairing of artists creates a welcome interplay between the back and front gallery spaces. Though practicing in different media, the artists share an interest in abstraction, repetitive forms, precise craft, and the strategy of a restricted palette.
Gay Outlaw (her real name) is a sculptor who likes the floor, so it is a shame that the floor in this case is covered with aged gray industrial carpet. Her work seems uneasy on this background. Among the floor pieces, my favorite is a wavy lattice, about 6 feet long, that resembles a CAD 3D drawing. The material is wool felt in colors of cream and dark green (photo below).
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Another floor piece, made of glass, also uses wave forms and the color green (photo below). This size of this work is described as “variable,”and it might look better in a layout different than five-by-ten, as used here. But that aside, I sense the piece is too small for its own good.
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Moving off the floor, Outlaw has placed a fine “Cube Study with Shadow” on a shelf (photo below). The piece is 14" wide. An interesting feature of this work is the use of milk paint for the shadow. It's an old-fashioned, eco-friendly type of paint.
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Even further from the floor, indeed hanging from the ceiling, is Outlaw's de-masculinized “re-do” of a 1959 sculpture by Claes Oldenburg, depicting a ray gun. Her version, about 30" tall, is pictured at the top (image from gallery website). The original, about 45" tall, is shown below (image from MOMA website).
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The show also includes a selection of Outlaw's photocollages. These are respectable but hardly on the level of her sculpture.
In the back room, Dean Smith holds his own with a varied set of drawings on paper. One of them sports a big fluorescent green disk that is built from a latticework like Outlaw’s felt sculpture. The second photo below shows the detail. Since much of the impact of this work derives from its luminescence, I wondered how soon the ink would fade. It seems a valid concern for a drawing priced at $6,900. (But it sold.)
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Along with brightly colored works, there are also several of Smith’s signature graphite drawings, including "focusing #2" (photo below, followed by a detail).
![](//photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7811/2360/400/127932/Smith%20graphite.jpg)
![](//photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7811/2360/400/55401/Smith%20detail%20graphite.jpg)
The exhibition seems a bit detached from the aesthetic rambunctiousness of the current art scene. But sometimes it’s good to have a calm moment.
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