Robin Moyer Chung Hangs With New Artists

“06880” culture correspondent Robin Moyer Chung attended Tuesday’s opening of the Artist Collective of Westport’s newest pop-up show. She writes:

Where to begin about Artists Collective of Westport’s current exhibit featuring their 14 newest members, other than: Where have they all been hiding?

Well, they haven’t all been hiding. For instance, Butch Quick’s photos have appeared in numerous juried shows around Fairfield County.

Quick photographs people in their everyday lives with an immediacy and ease which, ironically, exaggerates their complexity. An excellent example of this is on view: “Santiago de Cuba.” A man sits on a dirty sidewalk with a cracked pail of root vegetables at his feet, dramatic in its mundanity.

“Santiago de Cuba” (Butch Quick)

Jodi Rabinowitz, however, has been hiding. She’d been making collages for friends, but didn’t think of it as “art” until a year or two ago.

Her large canvases are patterned with imperfect squares and circles cut from any item that interests her: produce bags, Spanish comic books, wallpaper, pieces of string. The incoherent materials produce textured and colorful visual rhythms.

Collage (Jodi Rabinowitz)

Then there’s Ira Hara, whose whimsical illustrative pieces evoke either “ancient landscapes” (if you ask his daughter), or “I just put my head on a pillow and draw what I see the next day” (if you ask Ira).

Regardless, the delicious details, such as the print of the woman’s gown in “Masters of Shadow,” incited one viewer to comment, “These are magical!”

“Masters of Shadow” (Ira Hara)

There are several landscape painters. I got a kick out of Julie Hicks’ vaguely ominous take on the genre, such as an impending tornado, and Rowene Weems’ gentle, nostalgic photos of small scene America, like the children sitting in a line on Compo Beach.

Untitled (Rowene Weems)

Peggy Dembicer’s intricate beadwork and weaving had us wondering if she’d let us descend upon her studio and see how in the world she does it. I especially loved her “Chutes and Ladders,” a glamorous send-up of a prosaic game.

“Chutes and Ladders” (Peggy Dembicer)

I’m always looking for humor in art, whether intentional or not. I found it in a few places, including Shelley Lowenstein’s “Berry Picking,” a small painting of a mother and 2 children standing in a field, each holding a box brimming with fruit, looking around aimlessly. It was an “Okay, our fun is over. Now what are we supposed to do with this?” moment.

“Berry Picking” (Shelley Lowenstein)

Prices range from around $175 to $4,000. I’m not entirely sure if some will fetch their price tag. But many of the works, I imagine, will be snapped up before the exhibit closes on March 8.

(The Artists Collective of Westport exhibit runs through March 8. Hours are 1 to 4 p.m., at the Westport Country Playhouse Sheffer Barn. An artists’ talkback is set for 4 p.m. on March 8. Click here for more information.)

(Robin Moyer Chung reports regular on Westport’s visual and performing arts scenes. If you enjoy her coverage — or anything else on “06880” — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)