The show of celebrated ceramicist PETER VOULKOS’ work at Perimeter Gallery includes several variations on his sculptures. Given representational titles, they are highly abstracted renderings of small “teabowls,” larger “ice buckets” and much larger “stacks.” All were crafted from wood-fired stoneware, reflect a narrow palette of smoky blacks, grays and whites and reveal not just a change in scale from Voulkos’ prior work but a much more aggressive handling of clay. But the best reason to see the show is the inclusion of a variety of works in other media. Several Voulkos paintings from the 1960s show that he was well aware of the period’s Abstract Expressionist style and quite inventive in it, incorporating vinyl paint, lacquer and sand. Also on view are cast bronzes made from leftover pieces of slab, which he squeezed into abstract shapes; several drypoints and monotypes, which contain forms similar to his sculptures; and the artist’s highly recognizable wood-fired stoneware plates. The show continues until Nov. 15 at Perimeter, 210 W. Superior St.
Painter Matthew Girson has been interested in using the theme of the Holocaust for several years. His great-grandmother probably perished at Auschwitz, he says. In his latest show at the Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Girson’s style has matured subtly and remains that much truer to his credo that painting should be smart and meaningful without being clever. Girson’s prior show, “Not a Forest,” presented what looked like trees but were columns of smoke, inspired by an uprising at Treblinka, another concentration camp. His smaller oil canvases on view this time are serene, unmaudlin, more realistic and deal with a larger slice of history. Two separate sets of nine individual canvases have small, softly painted gray scenes of houses at the center of their large white glazed fields. One set depicts the homes of philosophers such as Sartre and Marx. The second set shows the artist’s birthplace as well as those of his parents, grandparents and his great-grandparent who perished. You almost have to squint to detect the architecture and landscapes, which may suggest on one level that history, including its horrors, can be forgotten unless we retell the stories again and again. On another level, the delicacy of the images reveals the artist’s respect and compassion for what his ancestors and others endured. The show continues until Nov. 29 at Zolla/Lieberman, 325 W. Huron St.
Anna Caser knows how to combine joyful colors and abstract forms so they dance off her painted canvases and transport viewers to her Italian homeland. Her paintings are full-bodied and beautiful, yet they offer much more than pleasant designs — unlike the work of some colleagues, who never get beyond the decorative state. Caser’s forms are predominantly non-representational, except for some simple stick figures, extraterrestrial-type faces and fishlike shapes, but they are arranged to imply active movement, pulsating across canvases, as in “Hollow Heaths.” Her colors, mostly lush pastels and traditional crayon hues, almost blind with their luminous intensity. But most important is her layering of colors, textures and scratchings, which together add a convincing depth. The show continues at Peter Bartlow Gallery, 44 E. Superior St., through Nov. 14.
Carol Jackson’s sculptures at the Ten in One Gallery demand time to digest their visual and cerebral messages. Jackson’s show is titled “The Adventure Store,” and what she sells is a chance to poke fun at outsider art. Jackson thinks the genre has become overly romanticized and expensive. “The work may be beautiful, but often too trendy and a way to exploit people who live and work on the margins (of society),” she explains. Jackson crafted each item in the show without formal training, as outside artists do. But instead of making just one leather belt, one leather heart or one framed wall album, she produced multiple examples, giving this “merchandise” mass appeal. She cleverly shoves some items that wait to be disposed into a “storage closet” and displays others — small colorful hearts — in the gallery’s front window, in the same way that pet stores place their cutest puppies and kittens out front to entice buyers. Her wry sense of humor emerges again and again. Will some viewers question whether this is art? “People have said that to me,” Jackson explains. “But I think the answer is, `Absolutely.’ I’m taking a notion and pushing it into installation art. If I approached the items individually, then they could be sold at a crafts fair, but these go beyond,” Jackson says. The show can be seen through Nov. 15 at Ten in One Gallery, 1542 N. Damen Ave.
Yoshiro Ikeda’s handbuilt low-fired clay objects are massive forms that sometimes suggest objects like a teapot or koi (Japanese carp). Their tactile surfaces are the result of multiple glazings, including a black underglaze and a crawled crackled white glaze. As the pieces are fired, the glazes shrink and separate. A very bumpy surface emerges, almost like enlarged goose bumps. Ikeda’s sense of color ranges from sensitive and delicate to forceful and almost zany. In “Teapot,” the surface is mostly black and white except for a surprising touch of red at the handle. Born in Japan, Ikeda went to high school in Oregon and studied architecture in college there, switching his major to drawing and painting, then adding ceramics in his last year. The multiple directions come together seamlessly in some of the strongest ceramics to be exhibited at Lill Street Gallery. The work can be seen, along with Patrick Crabb’s, at 1021 W. Lill St. through Sunday.