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Evolutions: Rory Burke and Stacey Steinberg
Elaine Erickson Gallery
207 E. Buffalo Street, 414-221-0613
www.eericksongallery.com
Through May 21, 2008
Reviewed by Katherine Murrell
Posted May 19, 2008. Evolutions, the current show at Elaine Erickson Gallery,
is something of an exercise in theme and variation in the work of Rory Burke and
Stacey Steinberg.
An arresting sight is the grouping of Rory Burke's sculptures on the low square
pedestal in the middle of the gallery. The arrangement of resin heads on metal
spires is tinged with the macabre, something between a medical investigation and
an intellectual votive. Arranged in an upward slope, there are subtle sub-
groupings among them. Larger ones tend toward the back, and a selection of
particularly smooth, wise-eyed ones in the center. Mostly, these pieces and the
others within this collection, grouped around the gallery, are an exploration of
faces not worn down by age, but built up by it. They're ostensibly the same face
from the same mold, but each worked a bit differently, as the folds of expression
flicker and change from one to another. A curious little demon of a figure is in the
front of the center pedestal, smooth horns protruding from a head decorated with
the outline of an airplane. Stoop down to see the eyes and piercing glassy gaze.
Stacey Steinberg presents a group of mixed media work mounted on various
types of wood: old packing crates, a washboard, and rough-hewn sections of
plank. The nostalgia and dust of the attic or basement come to mind, and eerie
spooky family sagas are alluded to through sepia images and old paper scraps
with esoteric phrases desperate to leave clues. The collages are built up in layers
in the physical sense, but on a more sensory level have the feeling of memories
worn down to their half-life. The overall mood of Steinberg’s work is delicate,
even bordering on anemic. Colors are faded and indefinite, images flit above
and below splatters of paint. Rather than communicating aggression, this paint
seems borne of a gesture that concentrated its last remaining strength to throw
accusations on the past. The paint is red, but pale and translucent, suggesting a
violence that tinges but does not fully block out the details beneath.
Translucent color is also incorporated in Burke's sculptures. Whereas Steinberg's
paint is like defiance mustered from a fragile wrist, Burke’s translucent resin
covers variously colored cranial caps, hinting at what lies beneath - the mysterious
tinkering and plotting of the mind, for wisdom or war.
Katherine Murrell is co-publisher of Susceptible to Images.
Elaine Erickson Gallery
207 E. Buffalo Street, 414-221-0613
www.eericksongallery.com
Through May 21, 2008
Reviewed by Katherine Murrell
Posted May 19, 2008. Evolutions, the current show at Elaine Erickson Gallery,
is something of an exercise in theme and variation in the work of Rory Burke and
Stacey Steinberg.
An arresting sight is the grouping of Rory Burke's sculptures on the low square
pedestal in the middle of the gallery. The arrangement of resin heads on metal
spires is tinged with the macabre, something between a medical investigation and
an intellectual votive. Arranged in an upward slope, there are subtle sub-
groupings among them. Larger ones tend toward the back, and a selection of
particularly smooth, wise-eyed ones in the center. Mostly, these pieces and the
others within this collection, grouped around the gallery, are an exploration of
faces not worn down by age, but built up by it. They're ostensibly the same face
from the same mold, but each worked a bit differently, as the folds of expression
flicker and change from one to another. A curious little demon of a figure is in the
front of the center pedestal, smooth horns protruding from a head decorated with
the outline of an airplane. Stoop down to see the eyes and piercing glassy gaze.
Stacey Steinberg presents a group of mixed media work mounted on various
types of wood: old packing crates, a washboard, and rough-hewn sections of
plank. The nostalgia and dust of the attic or basement come to mind, and eerie
spooky family sagas are alluded to through sepia images and old paper scraps
with esoteric phrases desperate to leave clues. The collages are built up in layers
in the physical sense, but on a more sensory level have the feeling of memories
worn down to their half-life. The overall mood of Steinberg’s work is delicate,
even bordering on anemic. Colors are faded and indefinite, images flit above
and below splatters of paint. Rather than communicating aggression, this paint
seems borne of a gesture that concentrated its last remaining strength to throw
accusations on the past. The paint is red, but pale and translucent, suggesting a
violence that tinges but does not fully block out the details beneath.
Translucent color is also incorporated in Burke's sculptures. Whereas Steinberg's
paint is like defiance mustered from a fragile wrist, Burke’s translucent resin
covers variously colored cranial caps, hinting at what lies beneath - the mysterious
tinkering and plotting of the mind, for wisdom or war.
Katherine Murrell is co-publisher of Susceptible to Images.
| Copyright 2008 Art History Chicks LLC |
| Gallery exhibition view. |
| Sculptures by Rory Burke. |
| Works by Stacey Steinberg. |