Though not as concise at times as they could be, Ricker’s
paintings address a now-familiar discussion on issues of gender politics and cultural
hegemony.
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Each
painter holds a canvas in his hand and appears to be
painting, competing with the other, hence the title.
The scene is similar to that in van Gogh’s Cafe Terrace on the
Place du Forum while the figuration, as with most of Ricker's paintings in this
exhibit, have a Max Beckmann feel to them in their simplified
curves, patchy shading, odd proportions and thick contours.
The oddity of this painting is the group of three
female figures lounging on the beach in the distance.
These figures, in semi-erotic poses, stand taller
than the buildings sitting in front of them. This scale change seems inconsistent with the
rest of the painting and the purpose it serves is unclear. |
ALASKAN IN FLORENCE, paintings by Donald Ricker, will be on
display at the D Street Café through Wednesday.
Judgment of Paris is a
multicultural mythical scene set on a patio overlooking an inlet, green
snow-capped mountains and a small, modern city in the distance. On the patio are a number
of sparsely clad figures and a dead Dall sheep draped over a chair. Suspended in the air
with her back pinned to a column is an Amazon wearing nothing but a red cloak, bronze
shield and bronze head-piece. An African female glides across the floor holding a
sparkling diamond ring in the air. Mercury hides behind a column on the right side of the
canvas with his backside prominently sticking out as if he were posturing for that
purpose.
A dripping-wet Middle Eastern woman sits suspended in
the air, gazing at Mercury and grasping the arm of a European woman who screams in front
of a male Incan. This figure holds a golden apple with the word "fairest"
phonetically spelled in a mix of English and Greek letters.
The exaggerated cartoonlike rendering of the breasts and the
revealing poses the female figures assume make eroticism the clear conceptual focus of
this painting. One wonders if the "Judgment" of the title is intended to be that
of colonialism, considering the reversed roles of the dominant culture. But the mythology
and history represented don't quite match such a reading.
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The role of the female
model is most clearly explored in Party forRousseau,
in which fully-clothed figures representing famous painters such as Pablo Picasso and
Henri Rousseau lounge around a room, nonchalant and entertained by a violin player. A nude
European female lies on a couch in front of a set of drawn curtains behind which grows a
garden of signature-Rousseau design. Meanwhile, a nude African woman carrying a snake
walks off the canvas, stage right.
While this painting could serve as historical evidence for a
gender-political debate, the blank facial expressions on all characters involved and the
fact that
none of the artists or models are looking at one another make the dynamics unclear.
Though not as concise at times as they could be, Ricker's
paintings address a now-familiar discussion on issues of gender politics and cultural
hegemony, exposing the crass tradition within which the female figure was used in the
early days of "modern art" and the mythology surrounding the artists who painted
them.
Andy Nau studied art in Germany and received a
bachelor of fine arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
Return to Donald R Ricker SHOW REVIEWS. |
