Check out four visual-arts exhibits worth your while

 By Mary Lee Pappas / Star correspondent

Posted: March 26, 2010

Indianapolis has always maintained a vibrant visual-arts scene.

From exhibits at local museums to shows inside some of the city's obscure and popular galleries, there's always fun, whimsical and thought-provoking art to peruse.

But trying to decipher which shows to devote your time to can be a little tricky. So we've done the work for you this week.

Here's a look at four shows to add to your weekend schedule.

Blankie

Nnenna Okore's "Blankie" is woven from found paper. It's on loan at the Indianapolis Art Center. - Photo provided by the Indianapolis Art Center

When: Through April 18. Hours are 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays.

Where: Indianapolis Art Center, 820 E. 67th St.

Cost: Free admission. Call (317) 255-2464 or visit www.indplsartcenter.org.

Artist Nnenna Okore's sculptural installation "Blankie" recalls her childhood in Nsukka, Nigeria, and the industriousness of people to recycle discarded materials.

Woven from found paper, the piece hangs on a corridor wall with a softness and elegance defying its origins. In the piece, which truly resembles a blanket, she has methodically and intensely reworked the papers to create a convincing portrayal.

Okore -- a former student of renowned African artist El Anatsui -- is assistant professor and chair of the art department at North Park University in Chicago. "Blankie" is on loan by William L. Fortune Jr. and Joseph D. Blakley.

Jean-Jacques Porret: New Sculptures and Drawings

Jean-Jacques Porret's rhythmic bronze sculptures are on display through May 3 at ARTBOX. - Photo provided by ARTBOX Gallery

When: Through May 3. Hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays.

Where: ARTBOX, 217 W. 10th St., Suite 140.

Cost: Free admission. Call (317) 955-2450 or visit www.artboxindy.com.

Abstract human forms comprise Chicago-based Jean-Jacques Porret's repertoire of rhythmic bronze sculptures.

Depicting movement and expression, the minimalist pieces have a playful exuberance. This Swiss-born engineer-turned-self-taught-artist's sleek and rounded works are created with the lost wax process, which is itself intriguing.

The perfectionist eye you would expect and attention to every detail are there as well. Porret even purchased a marble and granite company to create bases that met his high standards.

Mike Graves

When: Through April 18. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Where: Indy Hostel, 4903 Winthrop Ave.

Cost: Free admission. Call (317) 727-1696 or visit www.indyhostel.us.

Graves creates large-scale abstracts in subdued, warm and heavy tones with knowing brushstrokes. His compositions are harmonious and balanced, even though they grapple with tough concepts of spirit and the human condition.

Probably best known as a local musicproducer, his paintings range in topic from portraits of Mab Lab bandmate Kate Lamont to depictions of the chakras. A few pieces are collaborative works with fellow DJ and painter Justin Cooper.

Incorporating and layering sheet music, text and found imagery into his paintings, Graves' work takes on a graphic quality even though it remains introspective and personal.

Known more as a concert venue, Indy Hostel is proving itself as a place that's well worth the visit for visual-art exhibitions -- which it hosts once a month.

Mike Graves and Justin Cooper collaborated on "Spoon Version Mixed Media." - Photo provided by Indy Hostel

Christopher West Presents Fear of Flying: Josh Azzarella, Stacey M. Holloway and Euan Macdonald

This image from Euan Macdonald's "Two Planes" video is part of the Fear of Flying exhibit at the Dean Johnson Gallery. - Photo provided by Christopher West Presents

When: Through April 10. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

Where: Dean Johnson Gallery, 646 Massachusetts Ave.

Cost: Free admission. Call (317) 634-8020 or visit www.deanjohnson.com.

Works dealing with anxieties and what-ifs based on the theme of airplanes is at the crux of this three-artist exhibition at the Dean Johnson Gallery.

Participating artists are New York-based Josh Azzarella, Indianapolis-based Stacey M. Holloway and Los Angeles-based Euan Macdonald, whose pieces unite in this thought-provoking show.

Macdonald's video "Two Planes" -- in which he has superimposed an image of a plane flying over its original footage -- is graceful. Azzarella revisits the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and the possibilities if the planes had not hit the World Trade Center. Holloways's installation, which is just as emotionally edgy, explores her own fear of flying.

Indianapolis Art Center, Nnenna Okore, Sculture, Jean-Jacques Porret, ARTBOX, Mike Graves, IndyHostel, Christopher West Presents, Josh Azzarella, Stacey M. Holloway, Evan McDonald, Dean Johnson Gallery, Indianapolis, Photography

Artist's works take on personas of a dozen monikers

 By Mary Lee Pappas / Star correspondent

Posted: March 19, 2010

Ed McGowin had legally changed his name to Thorton Modestus Dossett when he created this piece. He also used 11 other names. - Photo provided by Herron School of Art and Design

Working as Edward Everett Updike, Ed McGowin produced this work, which is on display at Herron School of Art and Design through April 17. - Photo provided by Herron School of Art and Design

Mississippi-born artist Ed McGowin, 71, legally changed his name 12 times from 1970 to 1972 to test his theory that an artist's career evolves on varied creative paths rather than a defined one.

Works by all of his artistic personas are on view in "Name Change," an exhibit at the Herron School of Art and Design. Silkscreens of the legal documents securing his name changes also are included in this show of sculptures, paintings, drawings and more.

"(It's) 40 years of work by 12 artists that was done by one person," McGowin says with a laugh. "Or, you could say a group show by one guy."

Although McGowin says the names he chose are not important, exhibition visitors will see works by Alva Isaiah Fost, Thorton Modestus Dossett, Nicholas Gregory Nazianzen and Lawrence Steven Orlean, among others.

"I don't try to disguise the fact that I'm Alva Fost or Thorton Dossett," he says. "I'm not trying to be different people or have different voices."

There is no performance aspect to McGowin's work. His artwork falls into various stylistic categories that get assigned to a persona.

His artists don't collaborate, but their works do overlap. "It would be confusing for you to go into my studio and pick out who all these different artists are," he says.

Some of the personas' distinct bodies of work have earned their own commercial notoriety, however. "I'm very proud that Harvard University bought a Thorton Dossett," McGowin said.

Conceptually weighty, McGowin's premise that all artists are creatively schizophrenic, that it's unnatural not to creatively experiment, is really rather simple and true. His theory essentially mocks artists who use a formula to create and then market their art, as if it were a brand, without wavering.

Name Change

» What: Works by Ed McGowin. » When: Through April 17. » Where: Herron School of Art and Design, 735 W. New York St.» Cost: Free. » Info: (317) 278-9423, www.herron.iupui.edu

Soothing paintings awash in color, rich in material

 By Mary Lee Pappas / Star correspondent

March 12, 2010

Indianapolis Star

"Spitting in the Ocean"

"Riverbed"

"Shoreline"

I always refer to myself as a mixed-media painter, 'cause I can't just do one thing," says artist Kate Oberreich, 29, about the meditative paintings currently on view in "Undertow," her solo show at Wug Laku's Studio & Garage.

Contemplative and quiet in placid blues and whites, the 20 graphically abstract, landscape works demonstrate an ironic, uninhibited use of materials. Everything from rice paper, doilies, tissues, fabrics and colored pencils find their way into her pieces.

Upwards of 15 layers are fused together, with even more layers of acrylic paint, resulting in a rich texture and polished finish. Considering the arduous technique, Oberreich's works appear subdued and controlled.

Firmly painted horizon lines, black-silhouetted trees, and placement of the collaged elements are all carefully applied, even without an aesthetic goal in mind. Yet, the result has a visually comfortable appeal.

For inspiration, Oberreich says, "I like to go through craft stores and hardwarestores and find, like, weird stuff.

"I was walking through the scrapbooksection of Jo-Ann's or someplace (and saw that) they started carrying these papers," she says, referring to intricate die-cut papers that are bound into many of her new works. "I've got a stack of them in the studio that I'm trying to find the right use for."

Oberreich has maintained a studio inside the Stutz since 2006, the year after earning her bachelor of fine arts degree from Ball State University.

"Spitting at the Ocean," a piece whose subject is water, employs one of those papers, a swirly design that enhances the effect of motion in the painted waves. "It was sort of the right fit at the right time kind of thing," Oberreich says. Overall, it adds to the graphic sensibility of the works.

Many effects are purely accidental. "I'll do something, hate it and then have to cover it up with something," she says. "I never throw a canvas away because you can always sandwich more stuff on it. And, it adds to the character of the final piece."

Oberreich works on many of her soothing, minimalist pieces at once. Wug Laku's gallery provides an appropriately cozy setting for Oberreich's work, which touches on ideas of home. Though located in the Circle City Industrial Complex, a 13-acre, multi-use building, the gallery is welcoming.

Unlike most of her works, which have a universal quality, "Yellow House," a piece depicting Oberreich's grandparents' summer home that overlooked Little Traverse Bay in Petoskey, Mich., is autobiographical. An Indianapolis native, Oberreich says, "I used to spend every summer up there."

'Undertow'

» What: Featuring works by artist Kate Oberreich. » When: Through March 27. » Where: Wug Laku's Studio & Garage, 1125 Brookside Ave., Suite C7 (inside the Circle City Industrial Complex). » Cost: Free. » Info: (317) 270-8258, www.wlsandg.com.