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“NYC Series No.2- Balloons on
42nd Street”, 2009 (48”h x 30”w
acrylics on wood panel)
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This George Lucas makes art, not films. Not yet anyway. He paints. He sculpts. He makes posters. He does custom home projects. And, maybe most of all, he designs and builds theater sets.
Don’t look for “a look.” There is no immediately identifiable style or technique. He has tried it all — successfully. His paintings are a celebration of much of what has happened in art in that past hundred years, from Cubism, to Abstract, to Photo Realism. If there is a distinct identity, it is in the joy of exploring what other artists have created while making his own personal statement.
His great love is sculpture. He doesn’t carve, he constructs with treated wood, assembling the great animal and human-inspired forms that capture visual motion, and take you back to the beginnings of human sensation…to the recognition of the pure beauty in the primal forces around us.
The other great love is theater sets. He has been designing and building sets for the Keegan Theater Company for over 13 years, combining art and the art of building. He sees each set as sculpture, a fusion of form, color, balance, and of course, interest. Each has to stand alone as visual art, and yet it has to stand up under the actors – literally.
George earned a degree in art from the University of Maryland and was a builder for a while, which gave him the skills to create sets that don’t fall down. And he uses his combined skills in commissions for painted furniture — such as the table with a Toulouse-Lautrec poster painted on the surface.
But he creates the “Social Series” for himself, as his visual comments on the state of the world. George has had illnesses that remind him that time is precious, and he uses this awareness in making art — doing his best to make the world more aware of beauty. What could be more valuable? www.georgelucasart.com.
Jim Magner’s Thoughts on Art
When interviewing lifelong committed artists like George Lucas, I am greatly inspired by how indomitable the expression of a deep, intrinsic creativity can be. It gives me hope even when I observe at first hand the direction of education, which has been shanghaied by those who want to quantify everything. And why not? It is much easier to test, and simplistic numbers are critically important to administrators, politicians and journalists. It makes Progress so easy to measure — it’s not like dealing with the subjective messiness of creativity.
In that regard, I read that the same people want to quantify art education so it can be standardized and “equitable.” There will be approved questions. What? Match the artist with the style? What colors do you mix to get mauve? Provide the definition of Neo-Plasticism? Explain the financial success of Damien Hirst? (There may not be an answer for that.)
Already, large sums of your money have been handed to hungry art entities to come up with “measurables.” These will become the Holy Grail of art instruction, to the abandonment of all other teaching objectives.
I have taught art. And yes, there are some universal principles — general rules of form and color. Maybe a few styles…a few names. But those are only pieces of the puzzle, useful only in support of a creative ethic — an opportunity for the child to evolve and grow those innate forces of imagination and fantasy critical to innovative thinking and individual freedom. Maybe that is why creativity is feared. With a narrow prescription of right and wrong answers, a child is learning to obey, not think.
We should stop this before it gets rooted. But we won’t. Oh well. Maybe there will be a few renegade teachers and a few children whose imaginations will survive and flower in the cracks of academic asphalt.
At the Museums
“Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction”
The Phillip’s Collection
1600 21st St. NW
Feb. 6 -- May 9
Georgia O’Keeffe’s life, like her paintings, was richly layered and connected to all that was happening in the 20th Century. Through her many early experiences and influences, and her own expansive vision, she was able to recognize clearly the abstract foundations of life and art. She could transform powerful abstract images into subject matter, or allow them to hover just beyond the recognizable. You see what you want to see in her works, but nothing is certain. Like life.
This is an exhibition of 100 paintings and drawings, from her light and dark charcoals of 1915, to her close-ups of flowers and bones, to the stark watercolors of the 1970s. It also includes a few of Alfred Stieglitz’s famous and at the time shocking photos of her from the early years of their marriage. www.phillipscollection.org.
“Rufino Tamayo: A Cross Border Journey”
Meridian International Center
1630 Crescent Pl. NW
To Feb. 14
You still have two weeks to see, “Rufino Tamayo and the Mixografía Years (1974-1990).” This is an exceptional exhibition of 40 signed prints by one of the masters of 20th century Mexican art. Tamayo (1899-1991) grew up mostly in Mexico City, gained early attention and had solo exhibitions in both Mexico and New York.
He lived in the United States and France before returning to Oaxaca, where he continued to work with a distinctive Mexican quality. In the early 1970s, he was invited by Luis and Lea Remba to collaborate as a printmaker at their workshop in Mexico City. He developed techniques that produced increased volume and texture and led to the technique known as “Mixografía.” Tamayo created 67 editions over a 17-year period.
The prints demonstrate his profound graphic sensibility — the clarity of a central, stark idea taken to another visual level with color and technique. www.meridian.org.
“Erica Riccardelli: Orchestrated Misbehavior”
Evolve Urban Arts Project
Pierce School Loft
1375 Maryland Ave. NE
Feb. 6 – Mar. 27
Photographer Erica Riccardelli relates spending much time on long childhood car rides imagining herself as a princess, or a damsel imbued with magical powers. This penchant for childhood fantasies now provides her with “intellectual opportunities to bring disjointed memories, fantasies and hair-brained ideas to a fruition captured on film.” She inserts herself into “engaging juxtapositions” that simultaneously reflect humor and a romantic aesthetic. These include her ritualized performances caught on film, and staged, post-mortem images of women (“petite morte”) in scenes ranging from dramatic to darkly humorous. Reception: Feb13, 4-7. www.evolvedc.com.
All Media Show
Capitol Hill Art League
545 7th St. SE
Feb. 13 –Mar. 5
CHAL opens it’s non-themed, all-media show of original art on Sat., Feb13, 5-7 with a reception and gallery talk for the public. The juror is Betsy Anderson, a Torpedo Factory artist, former commissioner for the Alexandria Commission for the Arts, and President of The Art League. www.chaw.org.
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