The paintings by Thomas Whittaker Kidd at the Carl Berg Gallery, had a very traditional look but in combination with pretty strange, surrealist/ fantasy subject matter. I liked what the images were about. There was something very imaginative and creative in what they portrayed. On the other hand, I wasn’t that crazy about the style chosen for the paintings. While the subject matter was interesting, the paintings themselves did not seem that contemporary. Perhaps that is what makes them unique, but it’s also what bothered me. Erin Dunn’s paintings had a fantasy/ illustrative feel as well, but I found her work more aesthetically pleasing. Her work is definitely more decorative, but her use of sharp edges and busy imagery gave her images a controlled but chaotic feel. Dunn also incorporated thin gold strips, that gave her flat surfaces a sense of depth. I also thought that the signature she chose for one of her paintings was interesting in that it seemed to contradict the overall style of the work. Most of her work is very clean and detailed, but the signature seemed to resemble tagging. I don’t think it was a bad thing for her to do it this way, it simply made it stand out from the rest of the painting. Although the two artists' paintings are very different, I appreciated that both seemed to tell or at least reference a story. The work was painterly while at the same time seeming illustrative.
We are a group of Art students from the University of California Riverside who are attending a series of Art Galleries in several parts of Southern California. We have decided to use Blogger.com to post the pictures we take, and record our thoughts and opinions about the work we visit. You can find our critiques and thoughts on the work in the "comments" field, which appears below the pictures of the art.
1 comment:
The paintings by Thomas Whittaker Kidd at the Carl Berg Gallery, had a very traditional look but in combination with pretty strange, surrealist/ fantasy subject matter. I liked what the images were about. There was something very imaginative and creative in what they portrayed. On the other hand, I wasn’t that crazy about the style chosen for the paintings. While the subject matter was interesting, the paintings themselves did not seem that contemporary. Perhaps that is what makes them unique, but it’s also what bothered me.
Erin Dunn’s paintings had a fantasy/ illustrative feel as well, but I found her work more aesthetically pleasing. Her work is definitely more decorative, but her use of sharp edges and busy imagery gave her images a controlled but chaotic feel. Dunn also incorporated thin gold strips, that gave her flat surfaces a sense of depth. I also thought that the signature she chose for one of her paintings was interesting in that it seemed to contradict the overall style of the work. Most of her work is very clean and detailed, but the signature seemed to resemble tagging. I don’t think it was a bad thing for her to do it this way, it simply made it stand out from the rest of the painting. Although the two artists' paintings are very different, I appreciated that both seemed to tell or at least reference a story. The work was painterly while at the same time seeming illustrative.
-Drue-Ann
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