Some of the first words from Gwyneth Scally's mouth, after we introduce ourselves, are, "Dire, bleak, dark, threatening beauty." Her recitation is more poetry than complaint or explanation, and the phrases come across as well-rehearsed laments about the subjects of the paintings and objects created for "The Forest," an exhibition of her work running until 30 at Conrad Wilde Gallery, 210 N. 4th Ave. This young powerhouse is currently preoccupied with the convergence of aesthetics and climatology; she explores the question of whether stark beauty and imminent danger can be effectively united in works of art to express the tragedy of vanishing icebergs and dying forests.
Scally brings her artist's unsparing eye and sensibility to the problem, marrying her passion for the outdoors (forged in childhood by parents who exposed their daughter to camping and hiking and fishing) to political awareness and a fierce desire to speak out about the degradation of wild places, be they on land or at sea.
Icebergs and glaciers hold an almost iconic symbolism for this artist. She speaks, metaphorically, of fading mythologies, like ancient gods losing their hold on man's imagination and disappearing. The melting million-year-old ice is an irreplaceable archive of unimaginable antiquity - gone forever, its esoteric knowledge and mystery dissolved into nothingness.
"Murdered" forests have also seized Scally's attention, as the questions, "Where are the trees? Where is the ice?" insistently ring out in the somber tones of death knells, given voice through renderings of exacting detail and precise illustration.
"These works describe our romantic, escapist ideas of nature," explains Scally in her artist's statement. "Yet they also hint at the uncanny, and at something sinister, implying our growing ability to manipulate the natural world, if not to protect it."
About a dozen paintings of varying sizes comprise the bulk of the show. Instead of layering on pigment with brush or knife, Scally's canvases combine delicate, translucent, luminous swathes of tine to delineate forests juxtaposed with people. The goose-bumps factor is in her method of wiping away the paint to reveal trees as ghost images, with a theatrical component in the specific and hyper-realistic portraits of former inhabitants of the frozen places so depicted. They wail; they grimace; they stare pensively; they appear to be engaged in mysterious Northern rites or rituals. These works aim to feed the soul as well as challenge it, one of Scally's goals.
In addition to her 2-dimensional works, Scally has crafted fiberglass sculptures of sections of tree trunks, complete with branches, embellished with graphic images painted on the flat surfaces. Cast from actual objects, they exude a spectral aura and repeat the storyline of fragility and disappearance.
Besides her childhood indoctrination into the wonders of nature, Scally has traveled extensively, exploring such diverse localities as Tibet and Slovakia. She has also done residencies in China, Bulgaria, and most recently, Newfoundland, where she studied the melting icebergs and glaciers. Mount Lemmon also captured her heart, and she often lingers there studying what she calls "her textbook," the trees. She wants to describe and analyze the uneasy and twisted relationship of human bodies and the natural world.
This art is not easy to absorb or internalize, but the message, while complicated, is one that needs to be etched upon our mental world view. Potentially, the last ice sheet slips into the ocean; potentially, the last trees stand dead and stark against the sky. Gwyneth Scally testifies to the glory they embodied, and her work is, in those dire circumstances, at the very least, monument and homage.
Conrad Wilde Gallery, 210 N. 4th Ave.,
622-8997, www.ConradWildeGallery.com
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am to 5pm.
Upcoming: "High Fiber," a paper show running June 6-July 31.
Scally brings her artist's unsparing eye and sensibility to the problem, marrying her passion for the outdoors (forged in childhood by parents who exposed their daughter to camping and hiking and fishing) to political awareness and a fierce desire to speak out about the degradation of wild places, be they on land or at sea.
Icebergs and glaciers hold an almost iconic symbolism for this artist. She speaks, metaphorically, of fading mythologies, like ancient gods losing their hold on man's imagination and disappearing. The melting million-year-old ice is an irreplaceable archive of unimaginable antiquity - gone forever, its esoteric knowledge and mystery dissolved into nothingness.
"Murdered" forests have also seized Scally's attention, as the questions, "Where are the trees? Where is the ice?" insistently ring out in the somber tones of death knells, given voice through renderings of exacting detail and precise illustration.
"These works describe our romantic, escapist ideas of nature," explains Scally in her artist's statement. "Yet they also hint at the uncanny, and at something sinister, implying our growing ability to manipulate the natural world, if not to protect it."
About a dozen paintings of varying sizes comprise the bulk of the show. Instead of layering on pigment with brush or knife, Scally's canvases combine delicate, translucent, luminous swathes of tine to delineate forests juxtaposed with people. The goose-bumps factor is in her method of wiping away the paint to reveal trees as ghost images, with a theatrical component in the specific and hyper-realistic portraits of former inhabitants of the frozen places so depicted. They wail; they grimace; they stare pensively; they appear to be engaged in mysterious Northern rites or rituals. These works aim to feed the soul as well as challenge it, one of Scally's goals.
In addition to her 2-dimensional works, Scally has crafted fiberglass sculptures of sections of tree trunks, complete with branches, embellished with graphic images painted on the flat surfaces. Cast from actual objects, they exude a spectral aura and repeat the storyline of fragility and disappearance.
Besides her childhood indoctrination into the wonders of nature, Scally has traveled extensively, exploring such diverse localities as Tibet and Slovakia. She has also done residencies in China, Bulgaria, and most recently, Newfoundland, where she studied the melting icebergs and glaciers. Mount Lemmon also captured her heart, and she often lingers there studying what she calls "her textbook," the trees. She wants to describe and analyze the uneasy and twisted relationship of human bodies and the natural world.
This art is not easy to absorb or internalize, but the message, while complicated, is one that needs to be etched upon our mental world view. Potentially, the last ice sheet slips into the ocean; potentially, the last trees stand dead and stark against the sky. Gwyneth Scally testifies to the glory they embodied, and her work is, in those dire circumstances, at the very least, monument and homage.
Conrad Wilde Gallery, 210 N. 4th Ave.,
622-8997, www.ConradWildeGallery.com
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am to 5pm.
Upcoming: "High Fiber," a paper show running June 6-July 31.
