Art Review Archives:

	V. 11 thru 12 chronological (current)
	V. 9 thru 10 chronological
	V. 7 thru 8 chronological
	V. 5 thru 6 chronological
	V. 3 thru 4 chronological
	V. 1 thru 2 chronological
	Alphabetical Index V. 1 thru 4
	Hotlist Current
	Book Reviews

Andrew Conklin

November 14, 2005 - January 13, 2006

Gallery 180
The Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago
180 N. Wabash Ave.
Chicago, IL 60601
tel.: 312-280-3500
hours: Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9-5
http://www.ilic.artinstitutes.edu/galleries.asp

Figurative painter Andrew Conklin is a keen observer of the way things act under light: the way light creates interior volumes, or the manner in which its invisible luminescence strikes differently off of a white shirt, a silk vest, the network of veins that gives an underlying hint of blue to the paleness of nude skin. This fourteen-work exhibition is a modest sampler of Conklin's art, but no less worth seeing for all that. Particularly worth seeing are the two large figurative paintings in oil, in which the artist brings a classical clarity to narratives posed with present-day individuals. Paired with these are a host of smaller, less formal works including two nudes, interior and exterior studies, and a selection of preparatory drawings and oil sketches hinting at other narrative paintings.

Though there end up being only one or two of each type, the collection presents the opportunity to explore aspects of the artist's skill as broken out into smaller works, as well as to see their evidence in the larger, more finished formal paintings. In the oil sketch Interior of Living Room, Lakeside, light is the defining element of spatial volume in the representation of this urban living space: light where it is seen, striking off the polished wood of the floor, and leading the eye through the depths of the space to the back porch with its open door and distant, alluring brightness; and light where it is unseen, the ambient, yet present illumination of the interior volumes of the connected rooms. A nearby nude study, Janis, Nude Reclining, explores opposite volumes: the body's sculptural fullness, set on an ochre ground for a sense of shallow space, just enough definition to set the subject off from the canvas. Against this the long back and rounded buttocks of the model are lush expanses of flesh, well-modeled and warmly sensual in their intriguing play of curves and hollows.

Between these two, Artist and Model (also exhibited under the title Apollo and Artemis) shows such elements being worked into a larger and more complex work: the spatial volumes, in which the air around the subjects is as clearly suggested as the subjects themselves; the sense of the body's modeling; and everywhere, the dancing element of light, striking color and texture from the varied textiles and the pale bloom of the model's skin. Surprisingly, this realism is not hyper-observed -- close examination reveals the artist's control of focus, using a freer brush stroke in some areas, a more precise one in areas intended to be more revealed to the eye. Yet, equally, at times there are intense passages of illusionistic perfection. The pearl buttons of the woman's sweater in Gourmet Garage give an impression of three-dimensionality so acute, it takes a moment's look to realize that they are simply oil paint, after all. But these are side issues. The artist is not caught up in the illusion for its own sake, but rather as a component of the clarity of the overall image. Such clarity adds a keenness to the narratives implied by Conklin's groupings, to the subdued, durable tensions among the characters.

Artist and Model III, reproduced on the gallery's exhibition postcard (but curiously, not included as part of the exhibition itself) illustrates a further hallmark of Conklin's narrative paintings. A painter and his female partner take a moment of rest in a studio setting. What appears to be, in his case, a casual, natural pose, in hers a natural if somewhat formalized one, is on examination an amazing harmony of limbs. Her knees, one bent, one partially straightened, are part of a fanlike composition that continues itself via his knees -- also one bent, one partially straight. The flow of movement continues upward through the mirrored poses of the forearm, first his, then hers; is broken slightly by her outward-pointing finger, then picked up again by the similarity to her bare extended foot. Without ever losing naturalism of pose the eye is led full circle around the image. At the same time, the layering of elements of symmetry and contrast suggest the complementary role the artist and model hold in relation to one another. Such complex symmetries of posture are to be found throughout Conklin's narrative paintings. The more one looks for them, the more perceptible and delightful they become.

Classical clarity, intriguing narrative and brilliant hints of light characterize the best of these works, the large paintings in oil; other, smaller works provide a chance to see the artist's working method as applied to a variety of more informal subjects. Fourteen selections are on display in this exhibition of figurative oil painter Andrew Conklin's works, fifteen if you count the gallery card. Andrew Conklin will be on exhibition at the Illinois Institute of Art's Gallery 180 through January 13, 2006. The gallery is accessible through the Institute's main office, just inside the 180 N. Wabash entrance.

--Katherine Lieber

Katherine Lieber has edited ArtScope.net's Visual Arts reviews since 1998. Ms. Lieber is Editor and Associate Producer for ArtScope.net.

Editorial Note: An exhibition of Andrew Conklin's work was previously reviewed by ArtScope.net in Andrew S. Conklin, July 2004 (http://www.artscope.net/VAREVIEWS/conklin0704.shtml).