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From the Chicago Reader, October 19, 2001, section I, pages 28-9.
Consider the Alternatives
Katherine Drake Chial: Phenomena
at Artemisia, through October 27
By Fred Camper
Katherine Drake Chial acknowledges such influences
as Gerhard Richter and Vija Celmins and cites
Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant in her statement,
but her 11 paintings at Artemisia are not
just thought provoking--they're also ravishing
to look at. Born in Dayton in 1964, she moved
to Chicago about seven years ago; shortly
before that, she'd stopped making sculptures
to focus on painting, which for her "is the most difficult,
the most challenging medium--and it takes
a lifetime to get good at it."
The Masculine Has Become Absurd is
animated by a striking contrast: a straight-edged
white vertical band down the center (a reference
to Barnett Newman's zips) is set against
a backdrop of soft, supple patterns of dripped
paint and pale stains. In her statement Chial
talks about the long established view of
the sublime as "vast, powerful, obscure and dark" and what she calls a more recent idea, that "the beautiful is distinguished from the sublime by being associated with lightness, grace, color, diminutiveness and delicacy: attributes we nearly always associate with the feminine." Finding this distinction too simple, Chial sets up contrasts between aggressive "sublime" forms such as the zips and "beautiful" patterns--only
to undercut any bifurcation by visually connecting
them.
Ice/Mirror is notable for its diverse modes. Two zips appear at the right edge, but what might have resembled a black zip near the center has a jagged outline that helps link it with the subtle blue background. Vague blobs on the left suggest an out-of-focus photograph while a smear at the right looks like liquid spilled on glass and the smoothly varying blue recalls the sky--all contrasts that engage the viewer in active contemplation of the painting.
Copyright © Fred Camper 2001
This is an excerpt from a longer article that included reviews of the work of Laura Mosquera, Jo-Ann M. Thompson, and Michele Stutts.The complete text of this review may be purchased for $1.95 from the Chicago Reader.
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