March 20 - April 7, 2007
Hannah and Aaron Beehre's new paintings have the gently uplifting quality of fairytales about them. They are dreamy and otherworldly. Some have details collaged onto them like decoupage - that wondrously old and feminine art. "Marlowe" for example, boasts rose petals and butterfly wings scrap-booked on to its polished surface. Yet as a group, they are also graphically sci-fi in their fantasy; jewel-like in their obsessive finish; and positively geodesic in their naturalism. Witness the proto-cubist tower of rock in "Calrission" for example, or the curious crystalline form bathed in the gilded light of "Yossarian". And the titles round out these associations, with each painting named after a filmic or fictional character memorable for the Beehres.
Typically in this collaborative practice, painting is complemented by a projected work. In this instance, a digital image of lupins flowering in the high country has been inkjet printed onto a large canvas. A swarm of fire fly-like lights have been then thrown onto the florid scene from a (computer driven) data projector above. They sweep and swarm at varying pace, according to the proximity of the viewer - those of us standing in front. So, the fire flies are excited by audience movement (detected by sensors in the Gallery), and disappear when you get too close. As they should. The effect is fleeting and dramatic in the darkened room. And ultimately, it is wonderfully kitsch - a picture postcard scene intimately framed. Rarely has high key naturalism looked so alluring by night!
Postcards to Garland Briggs II
Selected works
Boxleiter (detail)
Brodie
Masen
Yossarian
Calrission (detail)
Marlow (detail)