ABSTRACT, FIGURATIVE, TWO AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL ART MAKE UP THE GROUP EXHIBITION. THE VARIETY OF WORK DISPLAYED IS AN ARTISTIC STATEMENT WITHIN ITSELF. IN PLANNING FOR THE SHOW, GALLERY OWNER, LAURA WARRINER, SOUGHT TO CREATE A BALANCED SHOW OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE. IN ORDER TO PROVIDE SOME SENSE OF UNITY WITHIN THE EXHIBIT, WARRINER SELECTED ARTISTS WHOM SHE NOT ONLY ADMIRED, BUT ALSO FELT WERE PROFESSIONAL, SERIOUS ARTISTS, COMMITTED TO WORKING DIVERSELY - NOT PRODUCING GENERIC ART.
THE SHOW CONSISTED OF 5 ARTISTS, FAMILIAR IN THAT THEY ARE LOCAL, UNFAMILIAR COMING FROM KANSAS CITY AND DALLAS. THREE OUT OF THE FIVE ARTISTS ARE SCULPTORS. A MARRIED COUPLE FROM DALLAS, TOM ORR AND FRANCES BAGLEY, AND JESSE SMALL, A YOUNG ARTIST FROM KANSAS CITY. LOCAL ARTISTS ARE TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARTISTS CHRISTINA PICKARD AND BRUNEL FARIS.
Orr and Bagley both work two and three-dimensionally, but primarily three dimensionally. Both artists have held exhibitions and are part of private collections in major museums nationally. Orr has also had the privilege of being a part of a permanenet collection at the Hakone Open-Air Museum in Hakone, Japan. Warriner says, 'I have been wathcing both artists for years.' In speaking about Orr, Warriner says, 'I like his mind, the way he approaches his work is very internal. What makes his work even more exceptional is the fact that he is a master craftsman.'
Bagley, for the past 6 years, has been working on a concentrated series of figures. Bagley says, 'Even though the figures make reference to soemthing recognizable, I am working as if they were abstract, with human scale relationships and the conveyance of feeling through form as my motive.' Warriner says about both artists, 'anyone seeing both of their work leaves with a new experience.'
Jesse Small is an innovative sculptor using mainly steel and clay as his medium. He works out of Kansas City and exhibits his work nationally. His recent works involve military paraphernalia such as bombs, shellcasing and helmets and transformint them with a torch.
Christina Pickard is early in her career as an artist, she studied Art History at the Sorbonne in Paris and graduated from the Kansas City Arts Institute. Christina says, 'what drives me to create is the poetential for discovery within the artistic process.' The forms that appear in her non-representational paintings and drawings are always representative of something. To her, every form has a meaning of some sort. Her recent drawings are about movement, loss, and relationships - incorporating forms reminiscent of bones, shadows, and the figure.
Brunel Faris is a retired professor of Art at Oklahoma City University. While at the University, Faris also served as director of the Hulsey Art Gallery. Featured in the show will be his recent work of large collages incorporating the spirit and time of the 1940's.
