Ladislav Guderna at the Thresh- old Gallery until Noy, 6, 1521 Wes! 8th Avenue, Vancouver, Elsbeth Rodger ai the Doug'as Udell Gallery, Oct. 16 to 30. 1558 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver, ta Ron Falcioni ART REVIEW IEWED FROM late in the 20th century, the “Battle of the Sexes’’ can clearly be seen to have reached a fever pitch. With the end of the conflict nowhere in sight, it must be con- ceded that this ‘‘battle”’ is in fact an escalating ‘war against sup- pression,” and is — like so many of the other struggles for: autonomy currently raging about us — the inexorable legacy of that ascendency of the egalitarian spirit that began in the West with the dissolve of feudalism. Although we have yet to witness the outcome of Feminism Trium- phant we can at least perceive the effects of its self-assertive and highly armed assaults on both the male psyche and the once ex- clusively masculine domain of the arts. On display at the Threshold Gallery until Saturday, Nov. 6 is an exhibit that is unlikely to find favor either with those who maintain that surrealism is merely a tran- sient phenomenon of little relevancy to contemporary art practice or those who look with disdain upon the sexist attitudes reflected by its mostly male practi- lioners, As a self-professed surrealist, .Guderna has certainly felt the brunt of such prejudices in this country. Largely due to his proud affiliation with the old-guard sur- realist movement his impeccably executed work has been pretty ruch relegated to a categorical backshelf where it rarely succeeds in attracting the open-minded critical evaluation it deserves. In Guderna’s art a fabulous array of motifs constantly appear and reappear as if in an endless arabesque. Geometric figures such as cones, cubes and spheres abound; myriad musical instruments jostle with uncatalogued plants, diverse varieties of birds, beasts, and other dubious creatures all intermingle in easy cohabitation with one another. Since all are equally im- probable, ali are equally valid. Also rampant in Guderna’s ex- uberant dreamscape is a kind of Midas eroticism that inibues everything it touches with sexual potency. Autonomous sex organs float in the air, transform at ran- dom the countenance of everyday objects, or just weigule about and lie inert on the ground. Under- standably, thighs, buttocks and breasts are especially prominent here although there is clearly no shortage of phallic appendages. {tis a world in which Eros has vanquished Thanatos. One senses that even Guderna’s art itself is merely transtigured male sexual fantasy. [In Dressing ers Room, for example, a sexually naive debutante, her lews crossed in innocent provocation casually NEWS pholo Nell Lucente ELSBETH RODGER'S First Do No Harnr. the women depicted are invariably naked, confined, sfienated and inarticulate. converses with an eropenously charged dressmaker’s dummy while ambiguous birdlike figures (Guderna’s Cupids)} perform amorous rituals in the air. In Circus, a medley of Bosch-like chimeras perform contortionist ac- robatics against an unadorned backdrop in which the legs (and female genitalia) of a stationary trapeze artist are just visible. Like the pretty nude precariously jug- gling on the back of the bird-limb- ed elephant, everything is ina delicate state of equilibrium here. So ecstatic and life-affirming are Guderna’s guileless flights of fancy that it is difficult to imagine any- one being either offended or upset by his heartfelt courtshio of Eros. In the current display of Elsbeth Rodger’s New Work at the Douglas Udell Gaflery, on the other hand, a darkly claustrophobic living-death em- brace of Thanatos is revealed that is deeply disturbing in its imptica- tions. Since her first solo exhibit in Vancouver — an exhibit whose most compelling work, Error in ludgement (1985), portrayed a seductively attired young woman huddled catatonically within the confines of a small trunk — Elsbeth Rodger’s name has become a byword for a kind of morbid feminism whose central theme is the sacrificial victimiza- tion of women. Her recent work clearly does nothing to mitigate her growing obsession with calculated sensationalism. The potency of Rodger’s paint- ings fies in their surreal ability to evoke, with the sparest economy of means, nightmarishly disturbing emotions to the viewer. The women depicted — men being conspicuously absent here — are invariably naked, confined, alienated and inarticulate. In Mortal Fault we are presented with the prospect of an anguished woman melancholically prostrated upon a Victorian gravesite. In See Surrealistic page 56 Dero Baa Scotia ti October 25th to November 7th These Lower Mainland Restaurants Will Be Creating Special Menu [tems Highlighting Fresh and Flavourful B.C. Products: Raintree, Prospect Point Cafe, Water Street Cafe, Dundarave Cafe, Raincity Grill, Peppi's, Delia Pacific - Reflections, Cafe Roma, Delta Vancouver Airport - The Pier, Park Royal Hotel - The Tudor Room, Chardennays. Quality ingredients and products supplied by: British Columbia Wine Institute, Sun-Rype Sparklers, Aqua 1 Glacial Drinking Water, Shaftebury Brewing Company, Lox Royal Processors, Island Scallops, B.C. Means Better Chicken, Lean & Flavourful B.C. Pork, International Herbs, B.C. Hothouse, B.C. Blueberries, B.C. Vegetables & Mushrooms.