A show at the Gwenda Jay Gallery of sculptors who work on an intimate scale proves that such pieces can be as effective as much larger ones. California artist Roger Berry’s curvilinear forms, crafted from bronze with a rich patina, sit on the floor and are the more effective because of their grouping. Bruce Beasley, who makes sculpture for public installations, also works successfully in a compact, spare, cubistic style.
But it is Chicago artist Val Gilman’s mixed-media designs that are the most arresting. Gilman uses cast iron, bronze and other materials to create delicate, imaginative designs.
Her three “Reliquary Boxes” require the viewer to discover their multiple layers and meanings. The long, narrow boxes mounted on the wall are made of metal and plastic and are decorated with painting, grillwork and removable “implements.” The boxes are topped by tiny objects that can be removed and placed in the boxes, which are lined with fabric, like coffins.
Her much larger “Implement,” made of cast bronze, soft maple and wrought iron, takes a different tack. Its long wooden stand, supported by slender, curved metal pieces, in turn, showcases more of her unique tiny objects, placed atop stands; the effect is reminiscent of fertility gods from an ancient civilization. The show continues at 704 N. Wells St. until Dec. 23.
If you want to make comparisons between drawings and prints, see Curtis Bartone’s exhibit, “For Show,” at Anchor Graphics. In both media, Bartone, a Chicagoan, works in minute detail in black and white, dexterously capturing landscapes and objects.
Because many of the drawings were meant to be studies for the prints, subject matter is often similar. But the prints also contain so many layers of fine lines that they resemble the drawings. The prime difference is that the embossed surface of the silverprints gives them a more tactile quality.
Bartone’s compositions juxtapose landscapes or cityscapes (in the background) and nature (oversized flowers and insects, in the foreground). The show continues at 119 W. Hubbard St. through Jan. 10.
The subject matter is the landscape in the etchings and aquatints of Norman Ackroyd at Belloc Lowndes Fine Art gallery. Ackroyd captures the countryside of England, Scotland and Wales in two distinct styles: in great detail and sometimes with a staccatolike trail of rich markings left behind or in a much looser watercolorlike approach that has a romantic, abstract, Turneresque magic.
Whether Ackroyd provides us with a great deal of visual information about the mountains, lakes, trees and abbeys he favors or supplies just a few strokes monochromatic color, the viewer feels transported to the scenes he portrays. This is hardly surprising, for Ackroyd works outdoors, even during downpours, with the protection of his fishing umbrella, though he loses some of work this way. The show continues at 300 W. Superior St. through January.