A World of Work

The Independent. Marshall, MN. December, 2004

BY Carl Nelson

MARSHALL
How far might one travel to view an original creation by a renowned artist? The newest exhibit at the William Whipple Gallery at Southwest Minnesota State University just closed the distance if Salvador Dali’s work is on your list of art to see.
The newest collection titled “Recent Acquisitions” boasts a mix of Dali, and even a silk screen by Austrian architect, painter, and poet Freidensreich Hundertwasser. Pop artist Richard Lindner is represented along with oils by Richard Roberts and Ronnie Cutler.
In all, the works of 38 artists — known locally and worldwide — are in the gallery. Many reaches of the world are represented from Italy and Singapore to Vietnam and Vienna as well as a host from New York, Texas and Minnesota.
“We have Salvador Dali, Richard Lindner and Freidensreich Hundertwasser — they are in the art history books and now we own these ...they are here for us,” said William Whipple gallery director Ed Evans.
“It’s an unusual opportunity that enriches life for us in this area,” he added.
Evans has been busy cataloging the newest additions to the Whipple collection. He’s spent time both day and night working on the exhibit, even though it means neglecting his own paintings, he said.
“ (The gallery collection) is very new and vital ...we’re at the ground floor and the beginning of something,” he added.
After all, it is through Evans’ own artistry that he’s been able to secure these works.
“ My whole life has been art,” he said. “I’ve been to just about every part of the world and met many people — it gets down to knowing a lot of people,” he said.
Most of the artists have donated their own work to build the collection and Evans said he’s thankful for these gestures.
In a tour, Evans discussed many works. He paused before Dali’s work “Towers” and said it is typical of his “bizarre works.” As a leader in the surrealist movement, he’s known for focusing on the fruits of the subconscious rather that logical ideas, Evans added.
“Towers” is part of “series of six paintings Dali did from Tarot Cards.”
“ Almost every major museum in the world has Dali artwork — the same can be said for Lindner.”
Born in Germany, Lindner received training as an artist in Europe and later became a U.S. citizen, Evans said.
According to Evans, Lindner has more of a painterly quality to his works than other contemporaries like Andy Warhol who is also known in the pop genre.
“Coney Island” is the Lindner work now exhibited at the gallery. Two figures are painted in loud colors with the upper half and side profile of man and a woman facing the viewer — a large lollipop adds a sweetness to her mischievous expression.
Evans indicated that there is much symbolism to be found in Lindner’s work, but by artistic styles his work is in better taste, than other comparable painters trained in the U.S.
An artistic husband and wife duo from New York are also represented. Richard Roberts and Ronnie Cutler share common elements.
Titled “Cotton Train,” Roberts’ composition is eye-catching. The foreground on the canvas is a sea of cotton with “dabs of bright colors contrasting with the other subdued tones,” Evans said.
He is also fond of the thickly painted texture and the placement of train moving across the top of the canvas.
Evans said Roberts and Cutler made a living from their paintings that he described as an “unusual accomplishment.” Cutler continues to paint and landscapes are her design. Her works include “Berkshires” — an abstraction of the mountains.
“ I like the freedom in her work ...the brush strokes and how she uses color — the blues and greens,” Evans said. “She doesn’t paint the typical little-old-lady landscapes ...she uses big brushes and it’s largely about putting on the paint, color and composition.”
Another canvas called “Mount Greylock” “she painted from memory and imagination,” he added. “She captures a feeling of the area rather than an illustration.”
Cutler’s works can be found in premiere galleries around the country, many of which are in New York, said Evans.
A view of the southwest is in Sandro Chia’s “Man on Horseback” and Evans remembers instructing his students about works like this one that he can now point to in the frames around the gallery.
“He is also in most major art museums in the world,” Evans said of Chia. The rider is painted in a side-profile, hat tipped with brilliant orange and vibrant colors surrounding him.
Brilliant and showy is another work lacking straight lines and conventional angles. Hundertwasser’s “Good Morning Bleeding Town,” combines greens and reds in his silk screen. A goodly amount of chartreuse coloration is in his depiction of a building with intricate windows. A few are accented with a shimmering medium.
It seems that Hundertwasser was just as colorful as the works he created. Evans said, “he did a lot of controversial speeches and poems ...he was really extreme like Salvador Dali ...and a very public figure.”
Hundertwasser’s view of a straight line might indicate his eccentric streak.
“ Straight lines are the devil’s tool,” he once said — quoted by Evans.
Sculptured examples are also on display like Marion Held’s ceramic and rubber representations. “Round Box” is her creation that resembles “human vertebrae” and other organs, said Evans. The rust-orange rubber attracts one’s fingers to the texture.
Another mixed media form is framed, titled “Marmari’s #58”, and composed by artist Nancy Genn. The piece is delicately drawn and collage-like in texture.
“ I don’t think there isn’t a big museum in the U.S. that she isn’t in ...of course that’s true of all of them,” said Evans about Genn and the other artists.
Among the places her work can be seen is the Smithsonian Institute.
Perhaps one of the more “cutting-edge” in design is John Dahlsen’s “Buoy’s and Netting.” It’s environmental art created from common objects and “most items he found washed up on the beaches,” said Evans.
An Australian, Dahlsen often finds buoys and bobbers drifting along shores.
He arranged these pieces under a section of netting.
“ I think he’s an exciting artist,” Evans said. “He takes mundane things that can become beautiful when nature acts upon them.” Bleached and weathered bobbers are just some of the items he “recycles” in artistic arrangements.
From Australia to that of Italy, a Bologna medical doctor, and artist is also represented in the gallery. Francesco Martani depicts a black-edged pink bowl in acrylic on porous paper. Abstract paint strokes add to the background.
“He likes to combine representational objects with abstract expressionism ...its somewhat like abstract expressionists in the 1950s,” Evans said. “He combines what would normally be seen as two works.”
With art from some of the farthest reaches of the world, local examples by Southwest alumni and associates are also displayed. Visitors will note the work of painters such as Jerry Bachman and Barbara Bachner and Bonnie Van Moorlehem in the exhibit, master potters Gene and Lucy Tolkheim and even master printmakers like Ross Zirle.