ARTS
ART S E V E NT S
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Among the many things that inform the work of Albuquerque artist Ian Campbell, perhaps the most visual is the abstract paintings and theories of artist Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky’s impact can be seen in Campbell’s electrifying and rhythmic “Landscape III” (left) and “Composure Rules” (above). Campbell’s work can be seen in January at Harwood Art Center, of which an opening will be held on Jan. 4
THU 3
‘Knowing when to stop’
THROUGH MAR. 3: EXHIBITION
Working-class Scotland, world travel, music and Wassily Kandinsky all contribute to the abstract work of Albuquerque artist Ian Campbell painted intermittently during this period when he found the opportunity. “At one point, I locks of brilliant color, overlapping was given a place to stay and a small stipend geometric shapes and intersecting to paint a psychedelic pattern on the walls of lines unite the lively paintings a household bathroom. This allowed me a by Albuquerque-based artist Ian place to settle, a place to relax. I couldn’t paint Campbell. Campbell’s abstractions are unique though. I needed consistency in my life in order and energetic — a vibrant swatch of color to paint,” he said. here, a couple of ripple lines there, a teetering Well into adulthood, Campbell started to geometric square — each one punctuated by discover the kind of consistency he had been abstract patterns and texture. searching for. “I was living in a commune in Originally from Glasgow, Scotland, Campbell India and found steady work. I grew up to working-class began designing and working parents int the unsettling E X H I B I T in an applied way. It was a very decades of the ’50s and ’60s. good thing. The commune “From the time I was 8 or 9 is also where I met my wife Ian Campbell years old, I knew I was planning Gopa and everything changed,” to leave Scotland,” said Exhibition noted Campbell. “We eventually Campbell in a recent interview OPENING RECEPTION: moved to America and I really with Local iQ. “I was a working6-8p, Fri., Jan. 4 started to paint more seriously. class kid and striving to become Harwood Art Center Before, I always wanted to a good artist.” 1114 7th NW, 505. paint complexity – quantum 242.6367 One could argue that Campbell physics – but wasn’t capable began as a muralist. “I started FREE intellectually. I was interested painting on the walls of my harwoodartcenter.org in philosophy and art and I gopated2inc.com bedroom with inexpensive began reading the theories by watercolors. I painted all philosophers like Karl Marx, through the night and didn’t go Werner Heisenberg and the late to school,” he remarked. “The abstract painter and art theorist emotional connection to painting, when you’re Wassily Kandinsky.” an adolescent, that’s all you have.” Kandinsky — a pioneer in the theoretical As a young adult, Campbell found himself underpinnings to abstraction — was also traveling the streets of Europe, working laborprogressive concerning artistic synesthesia intensive jobs and surviving — most days — and its relationship to music. Kandinsky’s on cheese and bread. “I never thought I was work, among many other things, expressed the homeless. It was the ’70s and I thought I was a intercourse between artist and viewer, form gentleman of the road,” joked Campbell. and color, the mind and the senses. “Kandinsky As a result of such circumstances, Campbell and the visual arts, he linked the language
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LOCAL iQ | ALBUQUERQUE’S INTELLIGENT ALTERNATIVE | JANUARY 3-16, 2013
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of music,” remarked Campbell. “He was the only painter I could read about and become inspired.” In viewing Campbell’s paintings, one cannot help but notice their electrifying and rhythmic quality – bearing resemblance to the visual and compositional components of Kandinsky’s abstractions as well as to the late Albuquerquebased-artist Raymond Jonson. “I frequently listen to Jazz when I paint. It allows me to be free and spontaneous like Kandinsky and Jackson Pollack,” he said. “Although, I find myself working away from that and listening to more ambient and meditative music like (Robert) Fripp and (Brian) Eno.” During a concentrated viewing session with the artist, I noticed that several of his paintings exhibit elements of variable depth perception that tend to play on the senses — they appear to comprise of optical illusions. Certain shapes and colors, such as bright yellow circles, diagonal black lines and brilliant white squares, appear to become isolated in space and float off the canvas. Campbell’s abstractions are aesthetically dense and rarely allow one’s eyes to rest on any particular spot. “The part that’s hard is finding that balance and knowing the next note. Knowing when to stop,” admits Campbell. We laughed. Without question, Campbell’s paintings encompass a quality of movement, rhythm, intensity and an overall flair for vibrant shapes and unpredictability – a successful combination for modern-day abstraction. “A painting should speak to your whole being – it should sustain you. There’s an essence of meditation in the process.”
Dimensional Baroque This solo exhibition by New York artist Mary Ann Strandell explores the collision of postmodern and the Baroque in a hyperspace installation. The use of an expansive sumi ink drawing with Lenticular prints brings together high and low cultural memes, in her continued exploration of East meets West. SNAPP PRICE PROJECTS GALLERY-THE ALBUQUERQUE PLAZA 301 3RD SUITE J
designstudionm.com
FRI 4 RECEPTION
Darryl Willison Featuring the artwork of Albuquerque balloon artist and Route 66 promoter Darryl Willison. Willison will be doing quick draws for the evening. 4-8p, FREE JOHNS’ WESTERN GALLERY 411 ROMERO NW STE. B, 505.928.205.9119
johnswesterngallery.com THROUGH JAN. 30: RECEPTION/ EXHIBITION
C.A. Klimek: Orogenesis These works are C.A. Klimek’s seismic upheavals. Orogenesis, a geologic term, speaks to a metamorphosis at the earth’s crust. Leich Lathrop Gallery also represents Laurie Alpert, Aaron Bass, Donna Dodson, Eason Eige, Evey Jones, Chuck Lathrop, Stephanie Lerma, Andy Moerlein, Krittika Ramanujan., Stephanie Roberts-Camello, Carol Sanchez, Jan. et Yagoda Shagam and Harriette Tsosie. 5-7:30p, FREE LEICH LATHROP GALLERY 323 ROMERO NW SUITE 1 505.243.3059
leichlathropgallery.blogspot.com THROUGH JAN. 15: RECEPTION/ EXHIBITION
Michael McCullogh: Feature Michael McCullough’s large an colorful painted New Mexico pots will be featured through Jan. 15. McCullough was one of Weems’ first artists and his work was on both the first Artfest poster in 1985 and this year’s Artfest poster. 5p, FREE WEEMS GALLERY 303 ROMERO NW, 505.764.0302
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