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Rebecca Shore:
Byron Roche Gallery
Rhythm, movement, regularity -- or its interruption. Rebecca Shore: New Paintings and Drawings shows that repetition can excite interest in its rhythm of elements, and that breaking the pattern can be just as fascinating. Shore's paintings evoke images of magnetic confluence, the regular oscillation of sine waves, at times the tightly-held structures of atomic particles. Her works on paper provide a contrast as she follows a more loosely-constructed line in tracing folds of drapery or sinuous loops of yarn. Twelve paintings and fifteen works on paper are on exhibition at Byron Roche Gallery through November 25, 2005. Shore's paintings are done in egg tempera, an ancient medium and one known for its ability to yield dense color and precise control. Her working method involves laying down several layers of tempera in differing colors, then scratching through successive layers to reveal the contrasting colors as elements of the final design; other elements may be painted over top. The resulting works have a scientific precision to them, an association further strengthened by the likeness to atomic structures or the play of electric or magnetic wavelengths. One can see them as abstractions, but abstractions of a sort drawn from phenomena of nature. In 2003 #4 (egg tempera on panel: 30 x 24 in.: 2003), a layer of yellow-gold (which itself has its own subtle patterning) serves as ground for sixteen pair of vertical, undulating lines, one thicker and more muscular, the other thin, elegant, spidery. The lines (or is the thick one an elision, an absence of line, a view through into a further ground?) change in hue as they rise from the bottom of the work, creating the illusion of depth as well as a further element of patterning and rhythm. The tension among these elements creates an impression of movement and force, suggestive of the regular movement that transports energy through the air in the phenomenon we know as sound. In physics it is the regularity of wavelength, with a fixed number of vibrations per second, that distinguish 'pure sound' from 'noise' -- the melodiousness of a 'C' note on a tuning fork from the mere racket of a hammer-blow -- and 2003 #4 is visually rich with such harmonies. Contrasting the languid sine-like flow of 2003 #4, 2004 #9 (egg tempera on panel: 20 x 16 in.: 2004) displays a tight, vigorous pattern based on nodes, with lines bent into slim white curves binding each node to its neighbor in steady precision, yet bounded by an outer edge whose curvatures feed back into the central pattern. The dense lattice recalls elemental models of atomic interaction, the basic 'glue' of electromagnetic attraction -- the Bohr model of an atom as a small, positively charged nucleus surrounded by electrons in orbit. Compact with energy, these self-contained orbits evoke stability as well as movement, planted firmly in the regularity of their order, yet leading the eye a lively chase in the interrelations among the precise curvatures uniting the individual elements into a whole. And yet -- precision, even in physics, holds the seeds of its own decay. The balance between order and disorder is a constant fluctuation. In 2005 #12 (egg tempera on panel: 14 x11 in.: 2005), the gray ground seems to stand in for the forces of orderly sequence and scientific systematization with its subtle yet present grid-pattern. Overlaid on this, Shore takes her fascination with precise patterning in a different direction: what happens when you break the pattern? A fishnet-weave of line creates a field of lozenge- or diamond-shapes, the 'weave' itself a balance of the regularity of loomed threads, the irregularity of handcraft. Broken elements -- 'stray threads' -- create a disruption that encourages one to follow the intricate patterning to find where it begins and ends. Why do we find such minor disorders pleasing to the eye? Too much precision can be sterile; the broken threads of line intensify the orderly patterning of the balance of the image, even as they disrupt it, and provide just that level of randomness that feeds curiosity. A series of works in gouache on paper complete the exhibition. Untitled #11 (gouache on paper: 17 x 14 in.: 2005) and Untitled #12 (gouache on paper: 17 x 14 in.: 2005) choose as their subject folds of black drapery, but in reality what is being illustrated is Shore's continued exploration of line, here what print practitioners refer to as 'the white line'. Though executed in gouache, these black and white works could equally well represent the handling of positive and negative space of a woodcut, with the absence of element, in this case the line (unpainted, hence 'white') delineating the edges of the otherwise impenetrably black drapery, cleverly serving to outline it for the seeking eye. Other works follow floral motifs or loopings of yarn. This is a different yet complementary study of line and its presence. (The draperies themselves, unadorned swathes of flowing black, have a charming Victorian ominousness, passingly reminiscent of the enigmatic curtain-ornaments in illustrator Edward Gorey's Les Passementeries Horribles (Albondocani Press:1976).) Pattern, repetition, movement -- line is paramount here, and what it can do, and represent, is a fascinating study. Rebecca Shore: New Paintings and Drawings will be at Byron Roche Gallery through November 25, 2005. --Katherine R. Lieber Katherine R. Lieber has edited ArtScope.net's Visual Arts reviews since 1998. Ms. Lieber is Editor and Associate Producer for ArtScope.net. |
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