Casey Roberts, Prints, Indianapolis, Indiana Artist, painter, Indianapolis Art Center, Freaky ForestBy Mary Lee Pappas/Star Correspondent
Casey Roberts is more than an artist. He's also concerned about the environment in his own way, which shows through in "Freaky Forest," his latest exhibit at the Indianapolis Art Center.
Roberts, 38, uses unique cyanotype paintings to offer a critical look at environmental issues, but with a bit of levity.
Warm blue and beige tones -- created through a Civil War-era technique called cyanotype, which includes the use of baking soda and mild bleach solutions -- lend an overall visual coziness and a dreamy, comfortable quality in which beauty overshadows any bigger message.
"It's real simple. I'm not a super conceptual artist," said Roberts. "I want people to relate to it."
Trees are his major artistic protagonists in the 20 new works on view. However, he's introduced some new woodsy characters, too.
"Tons of trees. Armies of moths. Lots and lots of moths. They are almost like protectors, or scouts," Roberts said, explaining their role in his illustrative scenes, in which plant and animal forms are blocky and flat but resonate as delicate.
"There are trees with magic, obviously," he says with a light laugh. "It's the only way trees can communicate -- through magic."
And you actually start to believe him as you become immersed in his imagined landscape's full pine trees.
"It's all fantasy," Roberts said about his work. But there's an antagonistic undercurrent, a dark side at play here, too. "It's not all bubble gum."
His color scheme and topics easily lend themselves to being spooky and eerie, quiet like a fairy tale. "Freaky," he said, with a sense of humor.
For example, "Home Town" features a hole-riddled tree whose trunk is graffiti-emblazoned. "It's kind of a conversation between nature and man and how we clash and relate to each other," said Roberts, who for the first time has introduced sculptures into his repertoire of characters.
His "Freaky Forest" includes the outrageous addition of white ceramic, ambiguous animal heads with blue eyes. The busts, which have accompanying portraits, range in size from 15 to 24 inches and are among the exhibit's many surprises.
"I am so happy with them. They crack me up," said Roberts, who maintains a studio in the Murphy Building in Fountain Square. "These are the things I am most excited about in the show.
"With every show, I make a few steps forward. I feel like I'm progressing. (But) I'm still kind of chicken," he said. "One of these days I'm really going to break out and freak some people out."
Freaky Forest: Works by Casey Roberts
» When: Today through June 6. Center hours are 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. » Where: Indianapolis Art Center (Churchman-Fehsenfeld Gallery), 820 E. 67th St. » Cost: Free. » Info: (317) 255-2464, www.indplsartcenter.org.
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