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Will Kolstad Drawings and Paintings
Gallery Park West Many of us are familiar with the details and moods of daily lives we have never lived. Through artists such as Pieter Bruegel we have lulled about at Sixteenth century harvest fests; with Jan Vermeer we have shared rooms in Seventeenth century Netherlands; and Renoir took us to spend afternoons in Nineteenth century French cafes. And perhaps more than those who in fact lived those lives, we have seen more and seen it as if for the first time, each and every time. We use the artist's eyes, borrow his sensibilities, and vicariously grow wiser and more aware of life. Future generations will look at Will Kolstad's art and know much more than apartment interiors in solitude, casual American get-togethers on open lawns, or the images of men at their labors and at leisure. Will Kolstad's viewers will feel their moods, their solitudes and fellowships, their personalities. "Drawings and Paintings" by Will Kolstad, now on exhibit at David Norinsky's Gallery Park West in Chicago's Lincoln Park district, offers fourteen artworks ranging from oils on canvas to pastels on paper and graphite renderings. Gallery Park West is a modest-sized gallery with a ceramics studio in the back, and it offers an excellent venue to view firsthand some impressive art. "Mechanic (Pastel, 50"x38")" is one of the first pieces on the East wall of the exhibition. "Mechanic" was exhibited earlier in the Chicago Artists Coalition's "Art Open," and it is flawless in technique and composition, but its value transcends the artist's mastery of medium. We know a person, not as an image, but as a cumulative experience, a sum total of many gestures, stances and expressions. And the numerous acts of every life, at work and at leisure, whether we deem them worthy of recording or not, add up to our unspoken experience and perception of each day in succession. It is Kolstad's fluency and concentration which gather, select and pose his image to distill what is essential and immediate. This has always been the continued strength of fine art, and it is a strength that a medium such as photography might rarely capture, but only by serendipity. Here, the artist has even greater power: his textures and forms are altered and adapted to reveal much about the nature of the person, the surroundings and their physical space. The human focus of "Mechanic" stands attentive and poised to act: he is counterbalanced by the weight and overt power of the truck wheel, and the patterns of his shirt appear as a more delicate echo of the treads of the tire. It is the man who controls the chain levering the heavy engine block, and "Mechanic" could well be an icon for human mastery over constructed power. In the foreground, tools and parts are arrayed, but it is the human subject who ultimately wields them. Somewhat like the daily-life scenes of the Seventeenth century Dutch painters, the viewer is given the richness of objects which explicate the activity portrayed, and a subtle subtext emerges which links the image to a timeless human condition: "By the sweat of thy brow...," "and he shall have dominion over all manner of things...." Many of Kolstad's works reveal contemporary moments which, but for the clothes and details, could stand in any human history.
A similar example is Kolstad's "Room with Flowers #2," a 36x72 inch pastel. The male nude reclines on a living room table in a reverie of solitude, one foot softly touching the wall at the left. An empty wine bottle stands in the foreground, and, partially hidden by the table, a companion cat naps on the chair at the right. While the human subject gives the impression of mild stirring, the feline soul alongside adds a sense of contentment, animal repose. Kolstad's artistry with discreet light effects and reserve in the model's facial expression here increase the power of the work. "Room with Flowers #2" recalls William Carlos William's poem, "Danse Russe," in which, while the wife and children are asleep in the house, the speaker in the north room dances nude before his mirror, and softly sings: "I am lonely, lonely./ I was born to be lonely,/ I am best so!" Much like Kolstad's nude male, the poet concludes: "If I admire my arms, my face,/ my shoulders, flanks, buttocks/ against the yellow drawn shades,--/ Who shall say I am not/ the happy genius of my household?" In Kolstad's painting much is suggested, but conclusions are left for the viewer's speculation. "Room with flowers #1," a 30x40 inch graphite rendering, offers viewers an opportunity to examine some of Will Kolstad's preliminary experimentation in working out his art. The sureness of line and the intent concentration which precedes Kolstad's final art link him with such contemporaries as Paul Cadmus and Jack Beal; and his subject matter is kindred to the Seventeenth century Dutch in these most recent works.
Both "Mechanic" and "Room with Flower #2" are more recent works, and the artist has indicated that they point a direction for his art to come. Kolstad seems to be developing a 'tighter' style -- it may well afford more latitude for his aesthetic and thematic expression, a refined, but richer language. It is precisely when the artist is in full mastery and has established certain expectations in his viewers that he can effectively exploit counterpoints and variations against the expected. Certainly, some of Kolstad's slightly earlier pieces display a brighter, more 'painterly' palette and overt approach to composition. "Lawn Party (oil, 96"x61") blends a more expressionist sense of ground patterning with a brighter, freer use of color and brushstroke. Compositionally, the entire view is from directly above the subjects, which at first might strike a viewer as disorienting, but this adds a visual tension to what would otherwise be a placid setting. The patterning of the lawn, which here forms a unifying background, is a freer and looser, softer brushstroke. This further enlivens a striking placement of the five seated figures and the unusual viewing direction. Renoir, certainly, was well-known for his portrayals of bourgeois conviviality, but Kolstad's such themes display a very American difference, one of not just period, but of sociology. The French painter's social scenes are public -- their people gather not just for the pleasure of company, but also to be seen. Kolstad's portrayals of people at their daily lives more often center on small ensembles well known to each other: friends, neighbors (as in "Talk of the Journey"), "regulars." Even his interiors, tavern and diner, seem motivated by propinquity, rather than 'being out in society.' Will Kolstad shows keen observation and a sympathetic instinct for the people and settings, the details and moods of his experience in life and as an artist. A number of his pieces may resonate to the Wyeths, and Paul Cadmus, but his art is more extrovert, in a distinctly Midwest American sensibility.
"Talk of the Journey" (Oil, 94" x 63"), like "Lawn Party," is also from the late 1980s. In his painting, two men holding brown grocery bags chat on a porch front and side-frame the screen door, from behind which a young woman joins in the conversation. "Talk of the Journey" is an open title: the talk may be of a proposed trip, or an excursion recently taken. The stance of the men is such as to draw the viewer's attention to the central portrait, but each is posed to imply not only motion temporarily stopped, but also an imminent departure. It is a fine example of how Kolstad's art reveals much about life as we now live it. And it often places before the viewer's examination an American sociality which may seem to future generations a lost way of living. Kolstad's is an art about people: their quiet moments and their bonds together. And, while some of his art exploits the narrative figure, Kolstad's work confirms that there is still much insight and pleasure in that approach. He evokes an aesthetic which poet W. H. Auden's "1929" centered upon: "Yet sometimes men look and say good/ At strict beauty of locomotive,/ Completeness of gesture or unclouded eye...." Auden, like Kolstad, found in this the wise impulse: "To love my life, not as other,/ Not as bird's life, not as child's,/ 'Cannot', I said, 'being no child now nor a bird.'" We use the artist's eyes, borrow his sensibilities, and vicariously grow wiser and more aware of life. Much of Kolstad's art is a mature love of life. Kolstad's large pastel, "Diner (48"x83")", follows similar works he recently exhibited at Chicago's Excalibur Club and it is representative of his scenes of commonplace social settings. In such pieces, the thematic affinities with artists such as Franz Hals and Vermeer are much in evidence. In technique and use of light, Kolstad also resembles some of the Dutch, and seems kindred to such accepted moderns as Jack Beal and Alfred Leslie. Like Beal, Kolstad is not reluctant to fully exploit visual narrative, academic criticism notwithstanding, and he uses the narrative element with great effect. But his art, as noted earlier, has progressed from a looser toward a tighter working of the brush, and the most recent paintings approach the glowing pastels of Watteau, or moderns such as Andrew Wyeth. "Shower (Oil, 48" x 36")," a male nude in a tent shower, is an excellent example of Kolstad's ability to develop visual tension through the sweep of line and form in composition, and the skilful manipulation of light. In "Shower," technique and inspiration collaborate toward a fine painting.
Another of the fourteen works in "Drawings and Paintings" is "Karen", one of several single portraits in this exhibition. "Karen." a 21" x 26" graphite rendering, is an excellent example of Kolstad's draughtsmanship and ability to look deep into a personality. The rendering's background is a repeated geometric pattern which, in key focal points, is brought into greater detail. This select focal detail adds a counterbalance to the immobility implied by the pose of the young woman and adds a somewhat Pre-Raphaelite element to the art. It is an excellent and telling portrait. "Karen," like the other artworks in this show bring to mind W. H. Auden's "Horae Canonicae": "You need not seek what someone is doing/ to know if it is his vocation,/ You have only to watch his eyes...." Auden recognized of exceptional creators: "the same rapt expression,/ forgetting themselves in a function." Will Kolstad definitely forgets himself in his art, gives all, and presents the viewer with a deep empathy and openness to all about him. Will Kolstad is a graduate of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and has had a number of impressive showings. Gallery Park West offers in this exhibition a chance to see a select but full range of Kolstad's creative output, all of it first-rate. It is work which will maintain a place among American art. Chicago's Lincoln Park area is noted for too few parking spaces, but Gallery Park West is located near many fine restaurants and night spots. "Drawings and Paintings" by Will Kolstad offers an evening of art that is stimulating and a great pleasure -- it is well worth a visit -- and afterwards, one can discuss it over dinner. "Drawings and Paintings" by Will Kolstad at Gallery Park West will run from September 10 through October 17, 199. Gallery Park West hours are Monday-Thursday 7 PM - 10 PM; Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM. David Norinsky, Director at Gallery Park West may be telephoned at 773/ 296-2160 for further information. --G. Jurek Polanski Jurek Polanski has previously written and art edited for Strong Coffee in Chicago. He's also well known and respected among the Chicago museums and galleries. Jurek is currently a Visual Arts Correspondent for ArtScope.net. |
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