Now Showing at the WEST WING GALLERY

Love, Love, Lovely….
By Deborah Corsini

 The music from Tina Turner’s popular song keeps running through my head –

“What’s love got to do with it?
What’s love but a second hand emotion?
What’s love got to do with it?
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?”

For a third year Sanchez artists responded to the exhibition’s question,” What’s love got to do with it?” with inventive, romantic, political and often humorous responses. Thoughts on love ranged from the classic and traditional heart shaped piece, Love Endures by Gaila Jennings — an elegantly frilly collage assembled from recycled candy wrappers — to Basil Brummel’s graceful oil portraits of nudes in silent conversation.

 In our contemporary culture of Dancing With the Stars and the new “dirty dancing” it is refreshing to see two imaginative sculptures of dancing couples. Jerry Ross Barrish’s lusty Tango draws one down the hallway. His life-sized figures, created with found plastic, are caught in a passionate twirl. Likewise Stuart Harwood’s inventive assemblage Garden of Eden is a delightful, whimsical couple. Artfully composed of artificial vegetables, this wonderful piece perfectly captures a delicate, precise moment of touch, as asparagus arms reach for cabbage hips.

 Tanya Lin Jaffee’s mysterious pulsing feather assemblage Waiting, evokes expectation, hope and faith. Her white baby doll is covered in white feathers, an egg and feather crown on her head. In one hand she holds a delicate glass egg-like sphere; in the other a glass sperm. The quiet beating and subtle movement of the piece implies incubation and growing life.

 And finally, Home, by Andrew Leone, is a sweet and humble piece. Leone’s small birdhouse sculpture with wings — an egg by the door and a Buddha’s head on the roof signifying protection and peace — is a small offering to love and the meaning of home as a place where the heart lies.

 There are so many other interesting and wonderful pieces in this exhibition that capture the spirit, fun and tradition of the multi faceted theme of love. I hope viewers will discover and reflect on the variety of expressions.  The show is located in the West Wing Gallery of the Sanchez Art Center until February 26.  It is a lovely.

To view a slideshow of twenty of the over forty pieces in the current show, click the slides to the left or CLICK HERE.

To download a printable copy of "The Dirty Palette" with a review of the current West Wing Show, a review of the SUSAN MATTHEWS show in the Main Gallery and more, CLICK HERE.