But, come on, she makes it so easy. This time the show at Walker is called In Significance. I'm not made of stone, so I've got to point and laugh at this one. Despite the implication of the title -- that what's on tap is something of insignificance -- I went and checked it out anyway. The show pairs installation artist Kim Ferrer with representational painter Christopher Fox. The duo of Ferrer and Fox does not really jell into a coherent exhibit, because the work of the artists is just too different.
Ferrer, who studied at New York's Art Students League in the 1970s and received a BFA and an MFA from Colorado State University, has created a large installation called "A Story Within a Story" (pictured). The enormous creation is made up of a group of ceiling-hung elements that are similar in form and materials but differ from one another in their details. The forms are reminiscent of seed pods and have been carried out in expanded metal mesh. Inside each mesh construction is an interior shape made from soft materials, including rope and fabric. The one with the purple tulle hanging out of it was really eye-catching.
Sculpture and installations are nothing new for Walker, but realism is. The Fox paintings silently indicate a new stylistic direction for the gallery, which had previously specialized in abstracts. The Fox portraits represent the personal heroes of the Denver-born artist and include depictions of Oscar Wilde, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Joni Mitchell, among a diverse group of others. Using ad hoc tools like credit cards instead of brushes, Fox sketches out their faces. Some have a folk-art look, while others riff on traditional representational approaches that recall the art of the nineteenth century.
In Significance (snark!) at Walker Fine Art runs through April 7.
