July Show Review — Ripped and Glued: Collage by Wayne Thurman

Horses are hard to draw.  I realized this when I decided to teach a horse-drawing lesson to  a group of kids here at the Community Arts Center.  I admire equine artists because of the sheer difficulty of horse anatomy.  At first glance, it seems a simple task. You draw the head, the flanks, and then you realize in a  moment of confusion that their legs are completely different than ours.  If you draw them correctly, it looks so easy.  Get it wrong and your horse looks like it’s wearing rubber boots.

According to Wayne Thurman, whose July exhibit, Ripped & Glued is hanging in the upstairs Gallery at the Community Arts Center, horses are more easily captured in collage.  I have never tried to create a horse through collage, but Wayne makes it look simple.  The mark of a true artist is one that makes their work look easy.

Wayne’s exhibit features thirteen collages depicting horses.  Some are close-ups, almost like a portrait, while others capture the entire animal.  On most of the pieces, the background is simplified to a flat black, allowing the viewer to focus on the subject matter.  When Wayne was delivering the collages to be displayed, he introduced me to each one.  Lifting a collage of a particularly perky horse, “This one is ‘Sassy’.” “This one is ‘Rasta Buck’,” he says holding up a depiction of a horse with a thick dreadlocked mane.  It became apparent that Wayne has given each of these horses a distinct personality and sense of humor not only by naming them, but by putting subtle nuances into the work.  In one piece called, “Eyes Say it All,” the eyelashes of the featured horse are intentionally softened with what appears to be tissue paper.  “That’s a dryer sheet,” Wayne explained.  The one thing that always impresses me about collage artists is their resourcefulness.  Collage artists constantly recycle, not necessarily for environmental reasons, but because their work often depends on it. 

The works in Ripped & Glued are all colorful, with most of the color provided by earthtone sheets of paper that are often printed in interesting patterns. A paper with rusted metal printed on it is featured in a piece titled “Let me Know.”  As far as color goes, a piece titled “Kinetic” steps outside the palette of the rest of the show.  With bright, almost fluorescent day-glo pieces of paper creating the countours of the horse, it reminds me of the Fauvist artist Andre Derain whose bright paintings of ships in harbors use a similar (although not as bright) method of color application.  While most artists focus on the calm pastoral nature of the horse, Thurman experiments with the more dynamic aspects in “Out of My Way,” a collage that features a foreshortened horse charging directly at the viewer.  The title very accurately sends the message. 

Don’t miss Ripped & Glued on display in the upstairs Gallery until July 20th at the Community Arts Center.  The opening reception for all of July’s exhibits is on Thursday, July 12th from 6-8:00pm.

“Three Sisters” by Wayne Thurman 

Thanks,
Brandon Long
Executive Director
Community Arts Center