omething old, soi Ferry Building Gallery catches Susanna Blunt in transition Mediterranean Meanderings and Meaningful Musings, Susanna Blunt at the Ferry Building Art Gallery, March 30-April 11. Ron Falcioni ART REVIEW T IS always interesting to observe the progress of an artist whose work is in a state of transition. Whatever the artist’s stature, new directions generally embody the joyful fervor and technical in- novations of new obsessions, yet retain the secure vestiges and forgone conclusions of past ac- complishments. Among the mundane examples of the old are to be found rare in- stances embodying the principles of the new, sometimes successful- ly, sometimes not. Such a show is that of Susanna Blunt. . Providing a cross-section of the artist’s current explorations and gathered under the irksomely alliterative banner of Mediterra- nean Meanderings and Meaningful Musings, these pieces explore sub- jects and utilize technical means not generally associated with the artist. oe (Susanna is best known as a West Vancouver portrait artist who has recently acquired recognition as a practitioner of trompe /’oeil, the art of interior decoration that utilizes fantasy, faux finishes and controlled perspective to modify the presence of a room and in- duce the illusion of exotic realms.) Three different pursuits are rep- resented in this show:.nudes, landscapes and mannered studies. Here, creations that celebrate nature are interspersed with im- provisations in a variety of media that pay tribute to the French and Spanish Romanesque religious subjects that inspired the artist on her recent excursion to the south of France. . Ranging from uninhibited lyrical monoprints and paintings on glass through drawings that oscillate be- tween the tightly naturalistic.and the manneredly naive, to more conventional paintings of varying dimensions, these pieces all seem to reflect the new preoccupation with unconventional techniques and new directions that are the source of the artist's inspiration in this show. In fully half of the work pres- ented, the innocence and devo- tion of the 11th- and 12th-century religious sensibility predominates. Several series of diminutive et- ching-like drawings convey the innocent wonder and devotion of the ‘period. Also of particular interest are Crucifixion, a larger, somewhat surreal conte study of Christ that conveys an unsettling tranquility in its dreamlike naturalism, and a neo-naive painting of Adam and Eve guiltily succumbing to the wilful subterfuge of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. ' The general tendency in these works is to move towards an out- wardly unsophisticated style, one that promises greater innovation and freedom for the artist. The most interesting pieces in the showy, in fact, are the un- pretentious monotype landscapes that permit the artist her greatest escape from the tyranny and tight technical control demanded by the more conventional dictates of portraiture. The problem with the show is that it demonstrates a lack of focus and a need for careful discrimina- tion in the selection of works displayed. There is simply too much crowded into the tiny space the Ferry Building allows. A little curatorial control would have been well advised; a stronger exhibit would have resulted if the works displayed were judiciously reduced by half. 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