featured image: Kathy Robinson-Hays | Short shift 3, 2018 Tea, ink & acrylic on silk & mdf 8 × 10 in
Why Chaos Matters
Year after year, RO2 has this crazy show of more than a hundred artists’ artwork hung on their walls. These small works can be a great introduction for gallery goers. I have been introduced to artists from the DFW area and hundreds of miles surrounding the Metroplex through this show. There are even a few from far-flung places. I for one love to get lost in the crazy contrasting styles and subject matter displayed salon style.
Chaos even spilled over to the Dallas Art Fair every year. Well, up until last year when they were absent. I think a lot of people missed their presence too. I hope to see them this next go around. But I digress, let me tell you about a few of the many highlights.
Rachel MacKenna’s portraits of Lucky Charms marshmallows was quite delicious. Those four little paintings cracked me up. I had a case of heavy nostalgia for breakfast. I bet MacKenna was like me when it came to Lucky Charms cereal. I would fish out and eat only the marshmallows, thus leaving the rest of the cereal in the box. Carol McMahon’s piece titled Billionaire Venture Capitalist On His Way To New Zealand looks like the work was melted into place rather than painted. Kathy Robinson-Hays’ piece titled Short Shift 3 has the look of a stretched animal skin or an ancient tapestry of an alien culture. The object is quite striking and holds my attention. Julon Pinkston always brings his A game with another thickly painted creation. Bonny Leibowitz’s abstract pieces disembarked from the usual canvas surface to flow freely as their own objects. Her brush strokes seem to float in space. I think removing the canvas has liberated Leibowitz to achieve great heights. In one of Bumin Kim’s pieces, she has threads cascading down. I keep thinking about car washes when looking at this object. Her other pieces were wound up yarn mounted to boards. They remind me of hair.
The theme of bodies or body parts emerged in several places. Suzanna Scott’s sculptures, in particular, stood out as a funky play on the body. Small paintings of nudes were also scattered around the gallery. Yasuyo Maruyama had a painting of a face that was washed out, yet those blues eyes really struck me. Similarly, Ari Brielle’s painting of an African American girl on a patterned blue background caught my eye. Dee Shapiro’s work was uncomfortably bodily while remaining abstract. Sara Cardona might have been even more abstract than Shapiro, I still felt like these were huddled bodies emerging from her pictures.
Chaos runs through September 8th and with over 130 artists there is bound to be something you like on the walls. I would camp out for a Diane Durant text piece or maybe Jiyoung Moore embroidery piece, or maybe a whimsical piece by Patricia Rodriguez. RO2art has so much art and there is so little time left to see it.