Sight, sound are joined at new art show
There is something you should do before you look at a single painting or sculpture in the current show at Boswell Mourot Fine Art.
As you step inside, look to your left and pick up one of the portable CD players and earphones.
Two of the three artists of the gallery’s “Tympanic Ruminations” exhibit have created a mix of music, poetry and readings keyed to certain works by painters Elizabeth Weber and Virmarie DePoyster and glass sculptor/gallery co-owner Kyle Boswell.
The point of the show’s theme is how sound plays a role in each artist’s creativity, so the audio created by Weber and DePoyster illuminates and expands on the themes represented on the canvases and sculptures. And sometimes, they make you laugh.
But even if you don’t take advantage of the audio, there is much to enjoy.
Weber’s canvases explore spiritual and emotional themes in her abstract impressionist style. One can feel a contemplative quality, as well as emotional and spiritual turbulence. Her growth is evident in the works here, and her bolder palette — more reds and ochre particularly — gives many of these works a passionate edge. She has a beautiful way with light and shadow.
Weber also writes poetry relevant to her art, some of which is displayed with her paintings, some on the audio recording.
DePoyster has striking oils, pas-
tels and encaustic works (beeswax and oil paint) in the show. Her encaustic pieces (especially Enlightened) seem pitch-perfect in capturing an almost literal visual representation of sound. Her pastels (particularly the abstracted I Am a Wildflower) are vibrant and engaging.
Boswell’s blown-glass sculptures, which integrate metal, fiber, bamboo and other materials, capture a flowing musicality in their composition and execution, though not all of that flow takes the obvious path. And that’s a good thing.
The works by these three are a harmonious gathering of beauty, sound and thought.
“Tympanic Ruminations,” through Nov. 7, Boswell Mourot Fine Art, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock. Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Info: (501) 664-0030, boswellmourot.com.
UALR GALLERIES
Aj Smith’s drawing trips to create portraits of the people of the Mississippi River Delta have yielded an impressive, exquisite show in “Faces of the Delta” at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock galleries. Smith’s drawings in graphite and silverpoint have a photorealistic quality and palpable emotional depth.
Three larger-than-life graphite works are especially gripping: Geraldine of Jonestown, MS; Eddie of Jonestown, MS, and Grandson of WWII. The first two are adults. Every inch of a life lived shows on Geraldine and Eddie’s faces. We look and wait for them to speak and share their stories, their truths.
Geraldine seems warm, though reserved, perhaps wary of the stranger looking at her. Eddie is half smiling, but you wonder what it means. Is the hoodie-wearing man assessing those who meet his gaze friendly or looking for an opening? By contrast, Grandson is young, his face full of potential and hope.
Smith seems to capture the inner essence of his subjects, which can present a mirrorlike or subtle confrontation with the viewer’s expectations, beliefs and perceptions.
“Photographing the Landscape,” also at UALR, is a fascinating exhibition, curated by UALR galleries director Brad Cushman, that approaches this classic subject by photographers Jay Gould of Baltimore; Frank Hamrick, Rustin, La.; Chad Smith of Commerce, Texas; and Luther Smith of Fort Worth, Texas, in several ways.
Some images are literal and a kind of photo verite, while others, in varying degrees, present an altered version of reality reflecting the photographer’s impressions through color enhancement, manipulation and other techniques.
Luther Smith shoots his pictures with a large-format camera on film, scans the images and, using digital software, enhances his work. “The Fire Pictures” series is the compelling result, such as the gripping Grassfire Near Springtown. The shapes of the bare limbs suggest a tree frozen in terror.
Chad Smith creates striking panoramas using multiple images, while his solitary prints, such as the stunning black-andwhite Campsite, Fort Davis, TX, radiate a mysterious and luminous quality that can evoke a sense of the direct experience of the natural world.
Gould’s illusory landscapes seem drenched in color, as in Traversing Time Series: Passage, in which a richly green landscape has a column of smoke rising in the middle as though something is about to appear or is in the act of disappearing. Other pieces add science-themed graphs and observations relevant to what he depicts.
Hamrick is skillful in his embrace of the sense of mystery that silver gelatin prints present so well. His Wounded Tree is a close-up on a tree with a dark hole, as though it had been shot, with a dark blood-like trail descending from it. But the longer one gazes, the more one will see.
Luther Smith will present a lecture at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 29 in Fine Arts Room 161.
“Faces of the Delta,” through Nov. 16, and “Photographing the Landscape,” through Nov. 29, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Galleries, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, 2-5 p.m. Sunday. Info: (501) 569-8977, ualr.edu/art/index.php/home/gallery.