A R T   L E T T E R


The Timely Magazine of Art

#18 <previous/ next> Artletter index December 1, 1995

Kelli Scott Kelley at Lanning Gallery	12/24

Small panels, each one with rounded edges and nicely painted in turquoise,
purple, and deep blue depict scenes of motherhood and togetherness. They
seem to have been prepared as a pastime, in sufficient numbers to adorn
the gallery walls.  The rendering of the figures is terrible, but if it were
really a pastime there would be no harm done.-Delfina



Michael Miller at Inman Gallery                                            12/16

Each of the smaller (24x24") paintings is crowded  with fruity clusters,
checks, stripes, and stencils which seem close to bursting out. Riotous hot
reds predominate, gaudy and crass like carnival sideshow posters. But there
is a lack of commitment to the ever-repeated subjects: does Miller really
love piles of stones and trees of orbs? Most of the concerns here, layering
of technique, repetition of forms, are art concerns. Does the rest of the
world care? Visually outstanding.-B.D. and Delfina	



Terell James at Hiram Butler 	11/31

Poetic gestural  abstractions (can you believe it!). Tough, energetic drawing
articulates a bleached atmosphere.  These works are plantlike, figurative
and scratchy by turns. The two more colorful paintings are weaker. James
is at her best when delicate color is subordinated to drawing.-B.D.



Suzanne McClelland at Texas Gallery 	12/16

This show is centered on three tangled paintings. Jungles of black charcoal
lines are made up of illegible words and strings of meaningless numbers, 
gelatinous nodules of acrylic medium are awash in dirty pink and white
rivers of pastel paint, and kindergarten clay turds and letters are smushed
into a surface. The whole lot is self-consciously labeled "perfect", either
hopefully or ironically, or both.-B.D.



Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art at the MFAH       1/2

The over-the-top romantic subjects of these works make lovely posters.
The surprise here is the technical wretchedness of Rossetti's paintings:
Proserpine 's skin is purplish gray, her neck a distended fish belly, her hair
a red helmet that dropped in from another painting, and her fingers deflated
balloons. Plus, the brushwork is clumsy and inconclusive. Yeech! Check out
the painting of cherubic choir boys lit up by the blazing pink sky.-Delfina



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