Freya Grand & Carol Gove at Judy Saslow Gallery
by Carrie McGath
Peak, Freya Grand
The ethereal work of artists Freya Grand and Carol Gove at Judy Saslow Gallery cast an entrancing spell over the gallery-goers at the April 16th opening. The works of the two artists differ in many ways, and yet complement each other and seem to speak with one voice. The voice is a soothing one, one that calls out quietly from the land of dreams.
Artist Freya Grand stood with a stylish confidence near her dreamy landscapes, introducing art enthusiasts to her large, imaginative works. Grand’s foggy palette induces meditations on landscape with colors that are sleepy and dreamlike, while also possessing a motion that livens up an otherwise inanimate world. Grand’s nods to the Baroque period permeate the form and technique of her work. In Lake, crisp colors are at work while a foggy dreaminess pervades the scene. The focal point of the lake cuts through the mountainous landscape, focusing the viewer into trance-like state. Grand’s white lake implies an untouched purity, unspoiled and contained in a dreamlike moment.
Messages, Carol Gove
Peak, another pristine landscape that meditates upon purity, recounts a dialog between mountain and cloud. The cumulous forms glide over the peak, implying not an encroachment, but rather an intimate conversation between the peak and what hangs above it. The relationship between cloud and cloud cast shadow upon the mountainside lend another thread to the conversation. We see the purity of alpine isolation in Peak, something wholly natural that transfixes the viewer. As with much of Grand’s work, there is a feeling of being transported to another world, a world that is un-peopled and pure, a world unrecognizable to many of us.
Carol Gove’s collage work instantly evoked Dadaist artist, Kurt Schwitters. What sets Gove’s work apart, however, from many collage artists, is her evocation of palpable emotion. Her work continues the dream world within Judy Saslow Gallery begun by Grand’s pieces. These collages project the artist’s personality through the incorporation of the artist’s personal archive (bits of mail and other ephemera). The interplay of paint and ephemera with the wood paneling support create an aura of complexity around the works. The surface treatment of Messages, scraped, scratched, and chaotic transitioning to a calm, smooth and methodically composed, carries within it the qualities of scarring and rebirth. Looking at this, I feel a struggle above and a peaceful order below.
Cousin, Carol Gove
The diptych Cousin reveals treasure trove of secrets, partially obscured by bands of colored paper and paint. The title seems to imply that the viewer should look for a specific relationship within the piece, and that relationship is most overtly conveyed by the interplay of color and image content. The red print of the woman near the bottom left relates to the red bands near it, the shared tones uniting the piece as a whole. On the right panel we see a woman whose body is veiled with subdued color, another nod to the hidden secrets held within Cousin. The use of floral imagery lends a calm organic quality to the work, while the slashes and drips of paint imply a loss of control and a sense of anxiety that differs markedly from the mood of Messages. The texture and abstraction of both Messages and Cousin lend a surreal feel that unites Gove’s body of work.
The work of Grand and Gove complement each other, in spite of their differences in media and execution. The works of both artists convey dreamy atmospheres and spaces for contemplative meditation. Grand works with found purity while Gove works with found objects, but both artists create work that is emotional, personal, and moody in its slumbering qualities. The techniques of both women are controlled and impressive, giving their work beautiful composure in an almost convulsive study of purity.
The show continues at Judy Saslow Gallery through May 29, 2010. The gallery is located in River North at 300 West Superior and the hours are Tuesday through Friday from 11:00-6:00 and on Saturday 11:00-5:00. Please visit their website at www.jsaslowgallery.com.
