“Among the Trees”
Gray Loft Gallery
2889 Ford St. #32
Oakland
Through Aug. 31
Closing reception Saturday, Aug. 31, 4:30 to 7 p.m.
Are you old enough to remember Bob Ross’s PBS television program in which he taught us to paint without fear? “Happy little trees,” he would remark whilst demonstrating his simple techniques, finessing blobs of pigment on his palate until they became — slowly and miraculously — recognizable trees on his televised canvas. “There are no mistakes,” he’d say. “Just happy accidents.” The Joy of Painting was easy to make fun of with Ross’s goofy look and gently dorky demeanor. But millions of us were held rapt by his patient and soft spoken instruction, despite my and others’ snide derision. We secretly loved what he showed us. Ross was ASMR before we knew why we were watching.
It was in this spirit that I approached “Among the Trees,” a group show at Gray Loft Gallery. I certainly didn’t expect Ross-esque paintings, and the works on exhibit are definitely not “happy little trees.” But I couldn’t help but think of Bob Ross for a group exhibition by 20 Bay Area artists composed of works thematically united by trees. This is a decidedly more sophisticated forest than those broadcast on PBS years ago.
Located in a large, block-long blue building at Ford and Peterson Streets, Gray Loft Gallery was the first live/work space in Oakland’s Jingletown neighborhood. Built in 1983 by Michael Stewart, gallery founder and curator Jan Watten first occupied the space as a working artist, then turned it into a gallery in 2012. It’s a big, sunlit place with an outdoor deck that offers expansive views of downtown Oakland and the Bay. Watten told me that the gallery exhibits 4 – 5 shows a year. For “Among the Trees” she wanted to address climate change and its impact on our forests.
Most of the work on display are paintings, along with several sculptural pieces, such as “Ghost Forest,” an installation piece by Sarah Grew that consists of photographs — carbon prints on glass — made of ash from black soot collected from west coast wildfire sites Grew visited. The column of suspended photos is arranged to resemble a tree trunk. It’s an ambitious work, but it felt a little too on-the-nose for my taste.
Pieces that appealed to me more immediately included acrylic and beeswax paintings by Ginny Parsons (particularly “Palm Trees by Pool”) and Tony Bellaver’s platinum palladium contact print, “Spar Tree, Mt. Shasta, California” (pictured at top). Also striking were June Yokell’s oil on canvas “Central Park in New York,” and etchings by Elizabeth Tana.
Among the sculptural works were those by Cynthia Brannvall which are constructed of manzanita branches and handmade Japanese paper. They’re exquisitely delicate-looking, their subtle depth and textures tempting one to touch them.
Another sculpture was by Lorrie Fink, “Harlequin.” At first I wasn’t very sanguine about the mixed media assemblage, but I kept returning to it. (It grew on me — forgive the pun.) If I go back to a piece I’m initially not into more than twice I know it possesses something that pings my deeper interest. The colorful whimsey in Fink’s work won me over.
Watten explained that hers isn’t a vanity gallery, but for this show she included some of her own work because they’re in keeping with the exhibit’s theme. Her photographic “Icy Window Diptych,” displayed in the gallery’s foyer, is a beautiful pairing, its subtle contrasts both eerie and pacific.
Tranquil too was Adrienne Defendi’s “Mother Tree, Reimagined” which is a multi-panel piece made of cyanotypes toned in redwood bark. This was another piece that I dismissed at first but returned to during my wander of the gallery. Its three-tone geometric composition is far more complex and thoughtful than I’d perceived at first glance.
Although I only got a subtle sense of the climate change issues Watten wanted to address in “Among the Trees,” it’s better that the works spoke for themselves as representations of trees rather than hewing to an overarching message or philosophy. After all, good art is always multivalent rather than expository.
Bob Ross trees these ain’t. The pieces here are rendered with much greater intention and sensitivity so that the whole — or, rather, the forest — is greater than the sum of its parts.
A solo performance by Minoo Hamzavi, “Triptych,” will take place at Gray Loft Gallery on Saturday, Sept. 7, from 5 – 7 p.m. A reception will follow the performance.
