cadence 2

Space Gallery

A A A Comments (0) By Michael Paglia Thursday, Mar 30 2006

Many contemporary artists are still interested in providing a window on the world through their art. Some, like those currently showing at Robischon Gallery, look to nature, while others, such as Frank Sampson at Sandy Carson Gallery, are interested in their own unique fantasies (see review). Yet another group riffs on the oldest topic of them all: the human figure.

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720-904-1088

756 Santa Fe Drive

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It is from this last group that Space Gallery (756 Santa Fe Drive, 720-904-1088) pulled the participants for cadence 2. The exhibit joins the work of LuCong, Wes Magyar and Lui Ferreya, for the second time the trio has played together (hence the title).

To the right of the gallery entrance is a wall of drawings showing emaciated female nudes by LuCong (as seen above). These drawings are severe and angular, very different in style from the artist's atmospheric paintings. They recall the work of early twentieth-century expressionists, including Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka.

On the left are several Wes Magyar paintings that depict his pregnant wife. Stylistically, these paintings are traditional, but the artist's point of view lends them a subtle edginess: Magyar was obviously lying next to her when he did the original sketches or photos on which the paintings are based.

In a niche toward the back is the work of Lui Ferreya, who has a distinctive style. There are a half-dozen colored-pencil drawings of the female nude, with parallel lines used to shade the figure's contours. There is also a painting in which repeated images of the same woman are lined up horizontally. The figure and the background are cut up into odd shapes, not unlike a paint-by-numbers painting, which, surprisingly, really works.

Time marches on, and so does the art calendar, so be aware that cadence 2 at Space closes on April 1 -- this Saturday.