The Trace Absence/ Presence- A Group Exhibition | Page 11

Sculptor Richard Heinrich's small, expressively abstract metal constructions,
have their titles deeply rooted in jazz music such as Bebob, Lester's Leap, and
Bag’s Groove, a title from a Miles Davis album. The latter, a ladder-like rust
colored, welded steel structure that has crossbars attached to the vertical
supports, with a flag-like extension of three individual bars at the top of the
sculpture. Here, as often happens In three-dimensional work, the trace extends
into open air, surrounding the assertion of the sculpture. Bag’s Groove shows us
that remnants of the mark can be seen not only in paintings and drawings but in
the relatively self-complete world of sculpture, where the trace belongs to open
space.
Jane Fire’s remarkable work, The First Rose Grown In Outer Space, looks at first
sight like a science-fiction flower in high bloom. Yet the similarity to our earth-
bound blossoms is clearly present, forcing us to contemplate the tenacity and
ubiquity of nature. The pink-white rose, the first actual rose grown in outer
space by NASA, blooms out of a cup and fills the canvas. Its erotic crevasses
begin a dialogue about the sensuality of nature, even in the most unexpected
places as here in outer space, and the subsequent actual branding of a perfume
“Zen” by a fragrance company from that rose. Here the idea of a trace element
of nature surviving in space is the conceptual equivalent of what Cyphers
pointed out, namely, the persistence of both presence and absence in both the
physical gesture and the representation of a rose by merely a scent.
Joy Revision No. 3, by Jeffrey Bishop, is a technically accomplished, highly
structured abstract mixed media work, despite the fact that an abundance of
lines, forms, and both geometric and organic depictions make the work look
randomly eclectic at first. Bishop exemplifies the thesis of the show: Traces of
imagery, like remnants of memory and dissonant music, are found asserting
themselves in random conversation with the other elements. This results in a
complicated array of alliances, as well as the experience of a white void backing
the intricate patterns established by painterly effects.