Artbeat

Silver gelatin photos hang in club's Argenta exhibit

Adams Pryor’s Night Train, Tokyo hangs at the Blue-Eyed Knocker Photo Club show at the Argenta Branch, William F. Laman Library in North Little Rock.
Adams Pryor’s Night Train, Tokyo hangs at the Blue-Eyed Knocker Photo Club show at the Argenta Branch, William F. Laman Library in North Little Rock.

The Blue-Eyed Knocker Photo Club never loses its focus.

The Little Rock club pokes its collective lenses into photography's history, technology and stylistic genres with exhibits that often provide fascinating viewing.

Sometimes club members focus on a single subject, as they did in 2015 when they displayed 100 photos of the Hotel Pines in Pine Bluff at the Central Arkansas Library System's Cox Center. The exhibit showed there is great beauty that shines through the decay of a former luxury hotel. They took a contemporary and retro view in this year's "Polaroid, Pinholes, Photograms and Processes" exhibit at Christ Episcopal Church.

It was only a matter of time before the club paid homage to silver gelatin prints, the often high-contrast, smooth black-and-white method made famous by photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and, especially, Ansel Adams. This printing process brings darkroom skill to the fore.

"Photographic Images: In the Language of Silver" is a display of 36 photographs by 10 of the club's members: Rachel Worthen, Adrienne Taylor, Lily Ryall, Adams Pryor, Jon Hodges, Rita Henry, Susan Mannatt Crisp, Ann Bryan, Cynthia L. Adams and Darrell Adams.

The subjects cover a broad swath of ideas and concepts, from Cynthia L. Adams' abstracted jewel Black and White Eclipse to Ryall's spiritually infused and well-composed Greenhouse interior to Hodges' Climbing, a well-framed photo of a child on playground equipment. Two works by Crisp also are compelling: the abstracted Mushroom #1 and the cool patterns in Fallen in Abiquiu, which recalls one of Georgia O'Keeffe's tree paintings.

Others not to be missed: the still life beauty of Taylor's stunning Transparent Tulip, Pryor's vibrant view of riders on Night Train, Tokyo; Darrell Adams' Jesus What, which shows a spelling-corrected Jesus Saves on the side of a semitrailer; and Henry's architectural Eyes of the Hotel in 1998.

Worthen's haunting Age 87 Years, of an older woman's hands crossed on her lap, tells a great story even without her subject's face. Cynthia Adams' warm Reunion finds an older gentleman communing with livestock at a fence.

Through Sept. 15, Argenta Branch, William F. Laman Library, 420 Main St., North Little Rock. Hours: 9 a.m.--6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday. Info: (501) 472-7292 or (870) 538-7414

'IDENTITY THEFT'

The artist Chukes says his mixed media paintings and fired clay sculptures, gathered in the exhibition "Identity Theft" at Hearne Fine Art, were created as a protest of the televised killing of black men and other people of color.

But also in his artist's statement, Chukes also describes his work as having evolved into "a tool to confront negative stereotypes and challenge the misconceptions plaguing black people and people of color." Those misconceptions and stereotypes, he seems to say in his work, are also within those communities as well as without.

Chukes' sculptures -- most are 2-feet tall or larger -- are beautiful, thoughtful fired clay creations. With Statue of Limitations, he presents his case most strongly in a defiant black woman as the Statue of Liberty -- her fist raised aloft. Confrontational, but also magnetic. Where's our liberty? she asks with her gesture.

Brother Nature, a representation on the masculine aspect of creation, challenges us to approach and listen.

Especially lovely is the romantic sculpture I Love You Too, the partial heads of a man and woman, their faces deep in rapture, held by each other's hands. The blue glaze is strikingly beautiful. Equally moving is the deeply spiritual A Prayer for Humanity, with its deeper blue glaze on the bowed female head set off by a white collar.

Muted Persecution, a oil on canvas, screams in rage or perhaps in terror.

There is much to see and feel and think about in this exhibition. It is more than anger and rage; there is mystery, emotion and hope.

"Identity Theft," through Sept. 22, Hearne Fine Art, 1001 Wright Ave., Suite C, Little Rock. Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday. Info: hearnefineart.com, (501) 372-6822

BRIEFLY ...

• "With the Grain: The Fine Art of Woodworking" opens with a reception at 5 p.m. Friday at Matt McLeod Fine Art Gallery in Little Rock. The show and sale of studio furniture and wood art pieces will feature works by Jill Kyong, Lucas Strack, Kent Bryant, Russell Denette and John Bruhl. The exhibit runs through Oct. 20.

And, while we're on the subject of the McLeod Gallery, be sure not to miss two superb paintings by Terry Brewer and Dominique Simmons.

Brewer has a large oil on canvas work titled Himalayan Peak: Nocturne that commands the viewer's attention. The peak shines like a jewel amid a striking blue and black foreground and a moody sky. Breathtaking.

Simmons, whose stunning paintings were featured in a show here in 2016, has a strong work hanging in the gallery. Honey Boy and the Bear suggests a shapeshifter in transformation. Beautiful.

Matt McLeod Fine Art Gallery, 108 W. Sixth St., Suite A, Little Rock. Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Info: mattmcleodgallery.com, (501) 725-8508

• "Les Peintres de la Campagne Francaise" (Painters of the French Countryside) opens with a reception at 5 p.m. Friday at The Art Group Gallery. Participants include Bob Snider, Holly Tilley, Patricia Wilkes, Laura Welshans and Faith Hogan, all of Little Rock; and Rhonda Bontrager of Hope, Ind., and Chris Newlund of Colombia, Ind.

The artists will be showing the results of their 10-day painting trip to Provence, France. The show hangs through Sept. 16.

The Art Group Gallery, 11525 Cantrell Road, Suite 910, Little Rock. Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Info: artgrouparkansas.com, (501) 690-2193

Email:

ewidner@arkansasonline.com

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This fired clay sculpture by Chukes is titled Statue of Limitations.

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Terry Brewer’s oil on canvas Himalayan Peak: Nocturne hangs at Matt McLeod Fine Art Gallery in Little Rock.

Style on 09/02/2018

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