At the Galleries: New and Interesting

Brad Bachmeier: Earthy and Otherworldly Considerations

If we are wrong in the purpose of lie, we are wrong in everything,” according to Archbishop Fulton Sheen. This statement is hard to argue with, no matter one’s positions on the core issues of life.

Artist Brad Bachmeier uses this quote of Sheen as a springboard for the concepts that guide him in much of his art-making. An award winning potter and ceramicist, Bachmeier is attempting, using one of the oldest art mediums known to humans, clay, to construct and deconstruct the physical and metaphysical implications of ancient and contemporary spiritual thought. His vessels inhabit a powerful message, one that if seriously considered, has the potential to profoundly change artistic orientations to religious inquiry. Rarely does one encounter an artist with such deeply felt and finely executed conceptual perceptions and predilections.

In his works, Bachmeier delineates the idea that man relies on clay and rock for shelter. In fact, he points out, up to one-third of the world’s population still lives in what can be called “unfired clay homes.” In a country (the US) and region (the Middle West) where brick and mortar, wood and man-made materials abound, it is easy to forget that primitive earthen materials still dominate home construction on much of the planet. In his works, Bachmeier not only extrapolates on this concept, but he also introduces viewers to the idea that if civilization is to survive, not only do we need to regard and respect what the earth gives us for shelter, but we need to respect the virtues that allow for peaceful living conditions in those abodes. he necessary material development of society could not be sustained without respect for the virtues that ensure the survival of the species and their habitats.

Examples include “Fortitude Imagined,” which is a “visual representation of the virtue of fortitude, which in many cultures is the “courage...to give up one’s life for a noble cause.” In “Charity Glorified,” a sculpture which makes “visual reference to the world religions that design their worship spaces based on the human body,” Bachmeier presents the idea that both the soul and heart are engaged in the practice of the virtue of self-less love, or charity. “Wisdom Explained” is a work that “uses the human head as a symbolic container for the universal understanding of the virtue of wisdom.”

One of Bachmeier’s innovations is to use the UPC symbol on vessels that appear to be ancient, or at least, old. By combining the modern and postmodern with an ancient aesthetic, Bachmeier forces the viewer to consider human artistic endeavor in light of the “Ages.” A question he asks related to his “Prophetic Revelations Series is “Is anything sacred or is everything for sale and created as a commodity” in the postmodern world?

Profound in concept and masterful in technique, Bachmeier’s exhibition at the Rourke Gallery helps to frame the most important dialogue contemporary citizens can engage in: a conversation about the importance, the necessity, and the absolute value of art and virtue.

Jay Pfeifer and Jon Offutt: Organic Works at the HoDo

The works of artists Jay Pfeifer and Jon Offutt at the HoDo are organically suited to the space, and for art lovers who have not perused the artifacts, only a few days remain for this two-man exhibition.

Pfeifer uses recycled and reclaimed materials to their aesthetic advantage in his large-format works that rely, sometimes, on a minimalist approach, and at other times on an abstract expressionist dynamism. Regarding the materials—wood shavings, plus wood sticks and chunks, stones, metal pieces, found glass objects and construction tidbits—Pfeifer combines his earthy cast-off objects with wood-craftsman skill at one moment, and with painterly acumen in another. Take the work “Fragmented Bit Chance Scraps” as an example. The top one-third of the large format is comprised of cut or shaved off bits of wood veneer, varying from light to cherry wood tones and geometrically arranged. The bottom two-thirds is painted in earth-toney grays--with horizontally placed sticks of wood embedded in the textured surface. Meandering amid the sticks and other a-fixed objects is a draftsman’s line, the quality of which is primitive, yet planned; child-like, yet artistically savvy. In “Flight,” Pfiefer captures an imaginary landscape of clouds that float throughout the middle panel. Flanking the center panel, orange and cream colored verticals lock the sky imagery in place in this work that makes postmodern use of abstract and non-objective subject matter on the same picture plane.

Pfeifer’s exquisite use of familiar materials is refreshing and comforting in a world where simulation, glitz, and man-made materials abound.

Jon Offutt’s HoDo works are consistently of medium size, vessels whose titles bespeak a connection the natural world, as well. “Desert Night” and “Fire Came Down” are examples, along with “Asian River,” the painterly surface of which is lit by a light greenish wash upon which undulating brown lines form the visual equivalent of moving water. Surface and form in Offutt’s glass works combine to create a simple, but lavish aesthetic. Color combinations of reds, browns, caramels, and a wide array of neutrals, among other tones, along with Offutt’s great gift for simulating natural textures, coalesce in these glass works of the highest possible quality.