‘Memories’ are made of this
Small “Objects of Desire” are made larger, and materials are used in novel ways to challenge our imaginations, in three new exhibits.
The three “Memories Explored” shows by Jose Rodriguez, Beatriz Mayorca and David Phelps are at JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N Walker.
Rodriguez said his mixed media graphite drawings depict “small and dear things” he collects on a larger scale to let viewers explore them more carefully.
Charming and wryly amusing is one Rodriguez drawing called “These Flowers For You.”
Under a vase of flowers, a dog figurine in human clothes serenades a ceramic rabbit, wearing a dress with his yellow guitar, in this work by Rodriguez.
Another Rodriguez drawing depicts two colorful spinning tops on a green saucer, while color is left out of his sketch of figures in a toy race car, pursuing “The Illusion of Speed.”
Oklahoma City artist Rodriguez is a former tenured printmaking professor at the University of New Mexico.
Venezuelan-born Mayorca, an Oklahoma City resident since 2005, makes us contemplate what it means to “Become” in one of her show’s most evocative works.
In “Become,” a green snake-like figure, which could also be a walking cane, tied with rope, coils up a ladder, leaning against the wall, its side bars curving outward, surrealistically.
Turquoise beads and half marbles stud the inside of a laminated plywood circle, suspended by heavy cord, in Mayorca’s “The
Courage to Keep Going …
To Live, To Breathe.”
Playing with fine art versus mundane function are magical red, blue and yellow “rainsticks” and three blue-green concrete blocks, turned into jewel-like wall pieces, by
Mayorca.
Bizarrely intriguing are the not quite exactly “99
Bottles of Beer,” topped with bronze skulls, a la the old song, offered to us by internationally known sculptor Phelps.
Bronze skulls on gray container bodies also become the two “people” manning Phelps’ “Team Lauson” small car, with its own engine and soap box derby-size wheels.
More satirical than Phelps’ “Pastoral Dreamer” and “Oarsman” is the cutoff figure of a lounging, almost leering bronze rabbit, on a classic pedestal, who thinks “I’m Too Sexy for the Garden.”
Known for his figures that seem to emerge from the ground, Phelps said his recent works also explore his personal history, but using significant objects that bring to life memories.
Phelps is an Oklahoma City artist who has been commissioned to create large-scale sculptures across the country.
The three “Memories Explored” shows are highly recommended in their run through Nov. 26.