"Contemporary Voices' at Woodmere Art Museum

"Contemporary Voices," the 69th annual juried exhibition at the Woodmere Art Museum, is, for the most part, not so contemporary. But there's gold in them thar hills—you just have to search a bit to find it. I noted 25 works worth seeing and/or collecting"“ not bad, out of 102 objects by 96 artists (chosen by the prestigious artist Sam Gilliam from an original pool of 450 entries submitted by 223 artists).

The exhibition's blockbuster is Leroy Johnson's Street Level, a seven-foot-long construction of found materials with beautifully painted vignettes of cityscapes, portraits, sculptured heads and miscellaneous objects evoking an inner-city neighborhood, complete with abandoned car, stray tire, neighborhood graffiti and even a religious scenario. It's truly "the hood," complete with the perennial observer of street activity leaning out her window, coffee cup in hand. This work should rest in a museum's collection where we can see it time and again.

Straight ahead in the first gallery is one of the show's major works: Nijideka Akunyili's Justin Undressing, a charcoal drawing of a young man in an interior scene with secondary figures in the background in a broad tonal range of soft, sensuous grays. Patricia Ingersoll's Veiled, acrylic and oil, illustrates what an abstract painting can aim to be. It's a beautiful composition with a vitality that feels just right. You want to linger and look for a few more minutes.

A dreamy landscape

Tony Rosati's Polar Melt is a small gem, a dreamy landscape in mixed media. Amet China, by Alan J. Klawans, is a masterpiece of composition and design; and Homage to Ramirez, a batik portrait on silk by Laura Pritchard, almost speaks aloud in clear tones and expression.

Entering the rotunda, pause a moment and admire the installation. The colors and compositions work well together— no small matter in a show this size. More Perfect Union, by Elynne N. Rosenfeld in mixed media, is a magnet to the left side wall. A limited palette, primarily of greens in varying textures and whites, creates a sense of unfolding and blossoming that feels foreordained. It's a quiet, satisfying study of fecundity.

On this same wall are two vital abstract compositions in acrylics: Astir Already, by Paul Behnke, and Throwaway Lines, by Jacqueline Cotter.

Leda and Her Swan, acrylic painting by Jack Gerber, indicates an exciting new direction for this well-known artist. By defining figures through composite forms, Gerber expresses a new, pulsating vitality and eroticism with the strong palette that has always defined his work. Even viewed from across the rotunda, the painting almost leaps off the wall.

A problematic entry form

These are just a few more of the treasures to be found in this exhibition: Richard Kagan's Exhaust Muffler #2, a gelatin silver print, turns an everyday object into a thing of beauty bathed in silvery light, an iconic photograph. Tank #1, by Charlotte Schatz, a mixed media painting, is another work that illustrates art's power to transform banal shapes and scenes. Meditation, acrylic painting by Donna Usher, unites complex shapes into a serene whole; and Helene Stephenson's Mohave Revisited reminds one of the value of our American landscape painting tradition.

But where are all the younger artists? And why does this show suggest a Menopause Medley instead of "Contemporary Voices?" Although I think entrance fees should be returned to artists not accepted in an exhibition, is the $30 fee ($20 for members, $10 for students) really the barrier? Or is it that Woodmere's entry form excludes video art, installation or performance art (a unique challenge, probably met with a video of it). By inviting a famous black, abstract artist to serve as its juror, Woodmere must have hoped to bring its 69th Annual into the 21st Century. Unfortunately, the young, vibrant artists in Philadelphia did not respond. Let's hope the 70th will be better.



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