Out of the Studio
Mixed-media, paintings and sculpture by Ted Arnold
Susan Maasch Fine Art
I almost had a heart attack at the opening of Ted Arnold’s show at the Susan Maasch Fine Art gallery.
A gentleman next to me was demonstrating the hands-on quality of one of Arnold’s pieces, a four-sided column, by giving it a firm shove. I reacted the same way his friend did: with shock and an urge to dive through the crowd to save the piece from certain destruction.
This particular work is “Baby Column” ($3,000). With its rounded base, it looks precarious, but it’s actually fixed to the pedestal upon which it sits. The column can bend far in any direction, but always bounces back, like the inflatable punching-bag clowns of youth.
The sides of the column are painted with blue-tone scenes of babies: smiling, crying, looking scared. Its wobble is a perfect representation of not only the unstable world of an infant, but also the insecurity parents of newborns experience. The pedestal shows signs of age and is labeled “HANDLED.”
“Baby Column” is one of two freestanding works in this exhibit. There are also several wall sculptures, but the show is mainly comprised of Arnold’s paintings, which blend classic forms with experimentalism and abstraction. One can see the influence of the Bay Area School in the heavily worked surfaces of his paintings. (Arnold lived in San Francisco until the mid-1990s, and now resides in Portland.)
The other freestanding sculpture is also interactive. “Hope Chest” ($3,800) is a conglomeration of the pipes in the basement you don’t understand, a toy that invites you to line up blocks to create mismatched characters (like the body of a horse with bird claws and the head of a giraffe), a music box, and the dress-ups from your grandmother’s closet.
Are you sensing a theme here?
Arnold’s work is playful and encourages the viewer to be playful with it. (Don’t worry about touching a piece you shouldn’t; the interactive works have a handprint indicating they’re OK to touch.)
While the interactivity draws the viewer in, the playful components are what keep your attention. For example, in “Hope Chest,” lifting the lid begins two separate music-box songs. The blocks can be lined up to create a bride on one side, but the groom will be fractured on another. Both women’s shoes have their own table leg; the men’s shoes must share the leg that stands in them. The piece succeeds in capturing the way a couple can live together but not escape their discord.
At least, that’s my take. Arnold describes the motion in his work as “a social process,” saying, “each of us has different conversations in the same room.”
Given the variety of work on display here, you’re sure to have many interesting conversations.
— John Cheesman
Out of the Studio shows through Thurs., Oct. 30, at Susan Maasch Fine Art, 29 Forest Ave., Portland. Hours: Wed.-Fri. 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-4 p.m., and by appointment. 699-2966. susanmaaschfineart.com.
