Detailed Realism
in Works on Paper

By HELEN A. HARRISON. Taken from The New York Times, December 17, 1989.

For the Second year, the works on-paper competition sponsored by the Firehouse Gallery of Nassau Community College in Garden City is national in scope. The 82 pieces selected by two jurors - the artist George Tooker and Susan Brundage, director of the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City - were culled from more than 550 entries from around the country.

The show's focus is on representational work, although abstraction is not altogether absent. It is, however, among the highly detailed, realistic examples that we find some of the most arresting images.

Gordon Inyards' affectionate portraits of vintage diners demonstrate both a masterful handling of the watercolor medium and a sensitive, convincing treatment of architechtural form. This Baldwin artist received Chase Manhattan Bank's Community Award for his charming study of "Leo's Diner," a quaint little throwback that progress has somehow spared.

"She's a Strange Child" is certainly an aprt title for the colored pencil drawing by Tanya Tewell of Arizona. The figure is carefully rendered to appear realistic, but whereas the face and body are those of a pre-teenager, the arm and hand look like an adult's.

Her hooded, rather seductive expression reinforces the feeling that there is some mischief afoot, but whether she is being disciplined by someone outside the picture - the grown-up owner of the hand - or a magical transformation is taking place is left to the imagination.

A Texas artist, Tony Saladino, received a purchase prize for his delicate color mezzotint "Vase and Letter." He handles the difficult medium with finesse, bringing out both the rounded contours of the ceramic and the matte surface of the letter in a nicely understated way.

In "Picasso's Niche," Bob Sullins of Oswego, N.Y., constructs a multitiered reliquary that serves as an art-world time capsuyle. The master himself is presented as a sort of holy warrior defending the citadel of art, while the relics of past forms are enshrined like so many specimens in an insect collection. Perhaps this intricate drawing is a realist's gibe at the forces of modernism that once relegated traditional art to the storeroom.

The expressionistic treatment of natural space gives a brooding intensity to Marry Heiss's collagraph print "Trees II," also a winner of a purchase award. Dark shadows lurk menacingly in the deserted glade, suggesting the presence of supernatural forces. Although there is no obvious or imminent threat, the scene's tranquility is disturbed by the Maryland artist's sophisticated distortions.

A more overtly dangerous situation is the subject of "Retreat," a monotype by Mary DeVincentis of Brooklyn. A nude figure, tiny and helpless, huddles on a bed, cowering against the onslaught of a looming giant in a flapping robe.

The strong implcation of impending domestic violence creates psychological tension, with male aggression and female vulnerability reinforced by the disparity of scale between the two figures.

The power of color to animate form is exploited by Carole C. Favis of Virginia in her watercolor "Codiaeum's Colors II." Complementary reds and greens, blues and yellows play off against each other in jazzy counterpoint, as the plant's lush leaves throust dynamically outward toward the viewer.

The vibrant effect of green against red is also used to advantage in "Yucca," a mixed-media work by Todd Devriese, an Illinois artist. The plant is treated abstractly, its spiky leaves rising phoenixlike from its base and pushing energetically against the confines of the frame.

The exhibition will remain on view through Thursday. The gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 5 P.M. and Tuesday through Thursday evenings from 7 to 10. Admission is free.