On one side of the Brick City Gallery are hard architectural lines – roof peaks, stair steps, ladder rungs, barbed wire, hatchings and Incan designs.
On the other side are soft shapes of the female body and sea creatures – curves, shadows, wisps and whirls.
Together, the gallery gives props to four Mexican printmakers. The exhibit, Contemporary Mexican Printmakers, runs through Oct. 28 at Missouri State University’s Department of Art & Design at Brick City.
The fluid motion in the works of Martha Flores drew me to the north wall, where a series of prints demonstrates the strength of a woman’s body. Flores uses shadows to convey exaggerated movement, as if the subject is about to take flight. The subject’s ligaments and tendons are revealed in action, reminiscent of the controversial “Bodies … the Exhibition,” which showcases preserved human cadavers. Opposite the criticisms of the “Bodies” exhibit, Flores’ works are sensitive and appealing.
On the opposite wall of the white-on-white Brick City Gallery space, Santiago Ortega’s 2007–08 works bring to life frogs, tadpoles, salamander and other swimming sea creatures in circular prints.
Here, I imagine a young Mexican boy daydreaming by the stream of water he’s intently studying. The exhibit calls the animals “axolotl” and says they were used as medicine and food in the pre-Hispanic world. Ortega shows the sea creatures in X-ray form, layered with tribal images and nest textures.
Adjacent to Ortega, Barbara Paciorek’s prints splashes color. High on texture, Paciorek uses systematic ridges to create images of flowing water and water markings.
Catalina Duran is responsible for the architectural-themed prints in a three-part series she created in 2008–09. Titled “Memoria de un encuentro,” or “Memories of Meeting,” Duran walks us through an Incan village. The exhibit synopsis says, “Each proposal has an architectural element, which is later altered by the overlapping of pre-Hispanic Greek patterns with dainty embossing that are afterwards covered by delicate gradients, textures and lattices.”
The exhibit is understated until a closer review. Take a peek noon–6 p.m. Monday through Friday at 215 W. Mill St.[[In-content Ad]]
