Winter 2010
BARN DOOR by Stephen Craig Rowe
“Space is only as deep as one makes it,” writes Stephen Craig Rowe at his website Painting Studio – a remark that plays over and over in the viewer’s mind when looking at the work of this artist and poet.
While Thomas’s Under Milk Wood is a pulsating work, permeated with images from the dreams of its characters, its setting is a small, serene Welsh village. Similarly, in Rowe’s Barn Door, one may sense unrest, but the turbulent nature of this piece, with its bold, rusty reds and sharp blacks and whites, seems to be performing against a quiet, almost tranquil backdrop. It may put one in mind of the scars left by time on an old door – the violence of rust on metal or rot in wood – but it would seem that Rowe cannot disguise his own love, or even longing, for peace and tranquility.
Perhaps this is why his website, as it appears on one's screen, is tenderly backed by a gentle folk tune. Rowe's work reminds us that life may be a struggle, perforated now and again by strife and loss, but standing back from it for a short time may reveal a quiet beauty in what many would perceive as disorder and confusion.
LIAM WILKINSON
Three Lights Gallery, Modern Haiga
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Fall 2009
PENZAI by Francisco
Still a major branch of Chinese popular arts, the creation of miniature
landscapes via the potting of dwarfed trees is now a familiar sight in the
Western world. Penzai translates as ‘plant in a pot’ and in Francisco’s piece,
entitled ‘Penzai’, the miniature tree is set against the light and shade of the
deep purple background, creating in itself a vivid, abstract landscape.
The shape and detail of the plant, almost caught in a quiet explosion of earthy
colour, crossing the threshold between the two contrasting shades of the
background, is as expressive as Pollock’s approach to his canvas. The central
form of the tree is reminiscent of Joan Mitchell’s brush work, as are the
purples, reds and greens that give this piece its unique ambience. However, the
‘action’ in this work, the movement and the articulation is the work of nature
itself – but a nature that is, thanks to the art of Penzai, a collaboration
between man and the natural world.
Francisco, originally from Venezuela, is a resident of Asheville, North Carolina. Whether he's painting (oil, acrylic, etc.), sketching, designing a home, or taking photographs, he enjoys the creative process. His work can be seen and purchased at his blog, One A Day, where the goal is to produce and publish a unique piece daily.
LIAM WILKINSON