"Legacies': The future at Pennsylvania Academy

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is overflowing with new and old master American paintings this summer, from the Hudson River landscapes in the original building, to the Hamilton Building's full-scale retrospective of paintings by Elizabeth Osborne ("The Color of Light") to "Man In the Mirror," a major exhibition of more than 60 drawings and watercolors by Sidney Goodman. These two major artists and long-time PAFA faculty members well deserve this recognition, but the future is revealed by the 12 former students they've selected for the Alumni Exhibition on the first and second floor hallways of the Hamilton Building.

This is art for the 21st Century, in some instances too close an homage to the students' teachers but generally a refreshing step forward. Too bad the Academy couldn't have done more by way of promotion than just a single modest postcard announcement in the entrance lobby. Why not produce a simple pamphlet with just a few informative lines for each artist? They're worth it, and the future is in their hands.

Machines for the future

For sheer novelty and a fresh approach, beautifully executed, go right to Kate Kaman's machines for the future. The Clone Corporation (2007) is labeled a Claw Machine with LED lights and Foam. For $2 you're invited to try to topple a clone baby (seven out of nine are still upright). It looks professionally executed and might even work. I tried it without money but nothing happened.

Kaman also has created a Test-A-Bunny— a free-standing, painted cabinet of wood, foam and motor, with 15 glass-eyed rabbit heads, each hooked up to red paint spray bottles. A white lab coat and goggles hung on either end give it the official lab look, not for amusement only. These two installations feel very far removed from the teaching of either Osborne or Goodman. At best the two old pros are distant ancestors.

Rhythmic brushstrokes

Stephen Estock's three abstract paintings next to Kaman's bunnies resonate with a quiet sensitivity as well as nuanced brushstrokes that almost envelop the viewer in the rhythm of their motion. I Miss You Already, oil on linen, is a study in tones of blue and red, deepening against a depth of movement restrained by the darker tones above. I was disappointed by their dim lighting and the fact that a partition almost blocked their accessibility.

Barry Goldberg's three paintings with oil and encaustic on linen worked in perfect harmony with each other. Rams and Days complemented Bright Yam Suns with delicately balanced abstract patterns, creating a sensation of looking into a distant mist. Slim vertical images appear as if ready to recede into obscurity at any moment. Visible, delicate brushstrokes reward close viewing.

A complex artist

Anne Seidman's four paintings illustrate her recent work: the evocation of distance and balance in three abstract paintings from 2007 and the tilted balance of multi-colored rectangles with pencil on paper of this year. All of them work together in a dynamic unit. Seidman is a complex artist whose work rewards the thoughtful viewer.

Among the abstract paintings, sometimes an image slips into the mix that makes you look again to be certain you didn't invent it. Ruslan Khais's Pastoral (2009), a large acrylic on canvas of free-floating dots of paint in a high tonality, looks abstract at first glance. Gradually, a horse and rider are revealed, the man with a wide-brimmed hat and the horse turning his head as if to look at the viewer. Sadly, I couldn't detect another hidden image in his Purple Nocturne (2006)— but you'll be captivated by the tonal variations while you are trying to find one.

Kate Javens, using oil paints on theater muslin, created two impressive portraits of winged insects on large pieces of muslin, 65" and 66" x 106". Green Darner and TAM capture the silvery tonality of their near-transparent wings and the solidity of their bodies in thin strokes of colors that meld into an insect's density.

A difficult format: The square

Michael Bartmann is represented by four oil-on-board paintings, figurative in appearance but, basically, abstract (which should be the case with all good artists). Beckon (2009) is a cityscape, a red building viewed from the exterior through it to a glowing natural lighted open area. Canvas Rising (2007) is a primarily abstract composition of rectangles. Bartmann's favored format seems to be a square, which is difficult for many artists.

Other artists in the exhibition fully represent the Academy's figurative tradition: Elena Peteva's four studies of Velazquez's Pope Innocent X in charcoal, pencil and acrylic on paper. Edgar Jerins's large charcoal drawings of full figures in a narrative setting and Wade Schuman's images from nature are close relatives to the Bo Bartlett and Vincent Desiderio paintings in the first floor hallway nearby. The latter two are included in the exhibition and are also part of the Academy's permanent collection. Does this indicate they represent the Academy's future direction?

Although this exhibition seems to be presented as an afterthought, it is such a portent of the future that it cannot be ignored. Next time PAFA does such a student show, I would hope it would be presented in a better space— or, at least, be given of the wall space on the first floor. And give us visitors, please, a checklist of the works on exhibition with dates, dimensions, medium and even the dates when these artists attended the Academy.

Henry Adams was correct when he noted (in The Education of Henry Adams), "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."


For another review of "Legacies" by Victoria Skelly, click here.