Glass exhibit broader, more eclectic

By Victoria Gail-White
Special to The Advertiser

•

Hawai'i Glass Artists Annual Exhibition 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays Through July 3 The ARTS at Marks Garage 521-2903 D.L. Vega Noon-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday Through Saturday Studio 1 550-8701 'Alarmed, Dismayed & Bamboozled': Photo Collages by Alexandru Preiss 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays Through July 23 Hawai'i Pacific University Art Gallery 45-045 Kamehameha Highway

And some did, literally. Brendan Jackson's elastic-looking "Acrobatic Slugs 'Iron Cross'" is captivatingly humorous. Hanging from a wooden dowel, a blue transparent blown-and slumped-glass oversized slug is suspended in a gymnastic position. "Meandering" looks like two pieces of lemon-flavored pulled taffy.

Newly elected president Geoff Lee was pleased with the increased participation that generated an additional 10 artists and 14 works.

Master glass workers Boyd Sugiki, Rick Mills, Bud Spindt, Michael and Misato Mortara, Hugh Jenkins and Stephanie Ross, Geoff Lee, J.P. Canlis, William Grix, Jane Raissle and Jason Minami all exhibit exceptional new works.

Gordon B. Eder, Dick Hoyer, Emily Thomas and Gail Karlen show keen examples of more practical applications of glasswork.

Steve Davis's solid formed and sculpted glass, forged steel, cast iron and bronze "Lantern No. 1," "Lantern No. 2" and "Lantern No. 3" look as if they materialized out of the Middle Ages. Their solidity gives the impression that they carry an ancient mystery that belongs to alchemists or wizards.

Mark Mitsuda, who teaches an innovative glass program at Punahou School (a leading example for other school programs for many years), was an invited artist this year. He exhibits his elegant four gray opaque "Moto Bowls" along with the work of 15 students. Eleventh-graders Scott Cody and Miles Fujiki and twelfth-graders Derek Kawamoto and Lauren Gratten clearly demonstrate genuine aptitude in their blown-glass goblets, bowls and vases.

"The goal of Hawai'i Glass Artists," says Geoff Lee, "is to raise enough money to build a community access center. Many glass artists here have nowhere to work, unless we take classes. Setting up a hot shop (furnace) is not something you can do in your apartment. The furnace needs to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week at a temperature of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit which means thousands of dollars in operating expenses every month. In Seattle, there are plenty of hot shop studios to rent. Honolulu needs at least one."

If you haven't felt the heat of a furnace or set eyes on a glass blowing demonstration, you won't want to miss the opportunity 6-9 p.m. July 2. Participating glass artists are known to put on quite a show. This one will coincide with their closing reception and the First Friday event downtown.

D.L. VEGA

Daven Hee, Fletcher "Kip" Howe and Lorenzo Kekina Nefulda meet up in this exhibit with one thing in common: a desire to show sculptural works, five each, at Studio One. Spokesperson Nefulda says these young artists have big plans.

According to their statement, "D.L. Vega" is defined as: "n. 1. the quintessential showman; adj. 2. that which has style and superior quality; v. 3. to symbolize the next generation of emerging artists."

"It is also the name of my company," says Nefulda. "The long range goal of D.L. Vega is to represent a younger generation of artists. We are collecting art ... but it is in the form of Japanese pop-culture comic-book animé toys and figurines. The toy industry is more lucrative for us right now. We know this, and we want to combine fine art with pop art. It's been done before, in the '60s." He believes his generation may have a new approach.

His "when pigs can fly" themed sculptural works include pigs that are bronze or silver cast and a few that are also chromed. Impressive in their meticulous constructions are "Of course I'll still love you ... that's why we'll always be best friends, right???" which has a pig enclosed in a platform of a Wright Brothers- inspired plane and "Saint Louis High School graduate, oversized local boy, and an art major ... every mother-in-law's dream" with a pig riding in a rendition of Leonardo Da Vinci's glider.

Nefulda's ironic humor is apparent in his selection of titles and the fact that all of his pigs won't be able to fly in his unaerodynamic planes.

Hee's earthy-colored and glazed robotic ceramic sculptures with their screw-like connections and suction cups bear no resemblance to his simple, elegant ceramics shown earlier this year in the "From the Hand: Five Hawai'i Ceramists" exhibit at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

Here, his "Robot Fighter" series brings comic-book warriors (inspired by the Gold Key Comic-book character "Magnus, Robot Fighter 4000AD") into a three-dimensional porcelain and stoneware world.

Howe's super-sized, blown-glass brandy snifter, goblet and beer mug titled "Lorenzo's," "Daven's," and "Mine" are comical. But it is his "Untitled" indigo blue, sand-cast glass wall piece that shifts the focus in the room. It is the only piece on the walls of the gallery. He is also exhibiting work in the Hawai'i Glass Artists Annual Exhibition.

While it is clear that these artists have talent, what is not clear is whether they envisioned the overall look of the show. The work is predominantly on pedestals, except for Howe's wall piece and their sketched ideas, making the large gallery space seem unfurnished. Maybe it's time to clear out the old and redecorate, but it may also be time to consider the impact. The works all talk, but they don't talk to each other in the same language.

BAMBOOZLED

Romanian-born Alexandru Preiss has a long list of local, regional, national and international awards for his illustrations and photo illustrations. This recent exhibit is a remarkable tour de force of his courage to portray observations of current political events and social situations with a bizarre sense of humor.

Thirty archival ink-jet printed photo collages, made with 95 percent of Preiss's own photographs, fill the gallery walls and seize your attention. Eighteen works are new and larger (23 1/4-by-13 1/2 inches) than his previous 11-by-14-inch format.

Since 1986, Preiss has lived in Hawai'i and owned a graphic-design business with his wife, Marlene Kennedy. His photographic work is published in magazines and he has exhibited work (in other media as well) around the world.

He explains the focus of the exhibit in a statement. "Paranoia is beginning to look a lot like reality. If the terrorists don't get you, fast food will. Every day there's something new to be alarmed about. This exhibition is a visual commentary about the perpetual alerts bombarding us."

"Outsourcing" is a visual comment on human disposability through artificial insemination. In it is an image of a female wire mannequin with a fetus inside it. The open doorway and abandoned teddy bear gives us the impression that the parents have left the picture.

"The doors and curtains in my work," Preiss says, "represent the different stages of consciousness we go through deciding what to believe from the information we receive through television and newspapers."

His theatrical and dramatic photo collages are like a series of staged tableaux. In his compositions he challenges our ability to decipher the barrage of confusing, juxtaposed multilayered images and find a path that is true for us.

Preiss' works are rich with strong colors and contrasts. "I Still Have Time" and "Good Intentions" include white painted human figures standing on brightly-colored dried-up lake bottoms.

The "painterliest" piece in the show (and this reviewer's favorite), "At What Time Does the War Start?," has a breath of its own. This surrealistic work, enlarged from its original format, is even more stunning and poignant.

Preiss's pictures don't just tell a story, they prompt us to think about who we are and what we believe in.