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Metaphor And Meaning: Prints By Susan Rothenberg And Marino Marini Creiger-Dane Gallery Through Oecember 31 By Aviya Kushner Some shows grab you and some shows don't. Getting past that initial gut reaction takes effort, sometimes excruciating effort. The Creiger-Dane's print show is a textbook example of a show I expected to be knocked out by. Susan Rothenberg, the painter most famous for her early paintings of horses that made a splash with curators and critics alike, is also well regarded for her print work. Those early horse paintings were followed by haunting variations on the initial theme, and so I was expecting either very bold work or something a bit mystical. I found neither. My initial reaction was simple disappointment. These prints are not immediate stunners. What's more, the way they're displayed doesn't do much to help them. But love at first sight is not the only criterion. Some pieces demand a sixth look, or even a sixtieth. I started at the far right, then at the far left, and then tried again, starting in the middle. I tried to forget everything I knew about Susan Rothenberg. I even tried to make her genderless. In at least one print here, Rothenberg (or the anonymous artist) shines by any standard. "Black Arm" is the most surprising piece here ‹and easily the most intriguing. The entire right half of the print is simply blank space. On the left, an arm is bent at the elbow, with four fingers aiming at the right blankness. There's something thought-provoking about that arm. In fact, what provokes thought might not be the arm itself, but what's missing. There's no chest, no head, no rest of body, just an arm which begins a few inches past the shoulder. The arm's effect doesn't stop there. If you stand about two feet away, the hand suddenly starts looking alike an animal's head, a dog's head. A circular formation between the index finger and third finger starts to look like an eye. Thinking about how a man's hand resembles a dog's face‹or maybe even a horse‹might make the three-floor stair climb to the gallery worth it, all on its own. The horse fascination continues with Marino Marini, an Italian artist who died in 1980. Marini's themes are homes and riders, dancers and jugglers, and‹no surprise here‹the female figure. After trying to get excited by Rothenberg's cerebral offerings, Marini's whimsical aesthetic was a welcome change. A delightful etching here is "II Teatro delle Maschere (Theatre of the Masks)." This 1956 etching, blessed with a catchy title, is alive with fantasy and humor. There's a rider perched on a horse suspended in mid-air, and what appears to be a woman watching, if the exaggerated breasts are any indication. Both the horse's rider and the woman seem to be wearing crude masks. Another accomplished print featuring a horse and a nude woman is "Risveglio," a 1977 etching and aquatint. The nude's hands are raised in a position somewhat reminiscent of the Nike or "Victory" sculpture at the Louvre, one of the major masterpieces of Hellenistic art. In all these etchings, Marini maintains a nice light touch, with a slant toward the dream-world. Interestingly‹or disturbingly, depending on your point of view‹ the Creiger-Dane materials try to show a connection to World War 11, and quote Marini on the historical resonance of the horse-and-rider theme. In fact, in an interview Marini said he was interested in "the last stage in the dissolution of a myth, the myth of the heroic, triumphant individual." Predictably, there s also a mention of the man-rider parallel, as man tries to control the horse, which supposedly symbolizes man's animal instincts. All in all, I didn't think this was a knockout show. I found myself remembering the marvelously detailed, character-filled prints of Domenico Tiepolo, the gifted son of the great painter Giambattista. When those prints were on view at the Met three years ago, it was easy to imagine each print inspiring a novel. That's not quite true at the Creiger-Dane. But for the patient viewer willing to probe and think about how an arm that looks like a horse or a dog relates to a prominent painter's overall body of work, this show has its rewards. And for some viewers, the "metaphors" of the show's titles may be clearer, and therefore more resonant. The navigation buttons on the upper right will take you to the top (this page), previous, and next page in this show. You may click on our logo at any time to return to our home page. We hope you enjoy your visit, and invite you to sign our Guest Book. |
Take 1 Metaphore and Meaning Take 2 Metaphore and Meaning Living | Atrs Metaphore and Meaning  Red Bamboo Susan Rothenberg Untitled (May #1) Susan Rothenberg Untitled (May #2) Susan Rothenberg Untitled (Hartford Proof) Susan Rothenberg Untitled (Black Arm) Susan Rothenberg Monkey in a Tree Susan Rothenberg Blue Violin Susan Rothenberg Tre Grazie (Three Graces) Marino Marini Bizzarria Marino Marini Risveglio Marino Marini ll Teatro delle Maschere (Theater of Masks) Marino Marini Presentazione II Marino Marini Marino from Shakespeare II Marino Marini Cavaliere Marino Marini Cavaliere e Cavallo (Horse & Rider) Marino Marini La Traviata Marino Marini Price List Susan Rothenberg & Marino Marini |