Thursday, January 02, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Art: Western kitsch

Gimmicky Government Center sculptures have been done before

By Charles Morgan

As the Cartwright clan rides up at the beginning of another thrilling episode of "Bonanza," one wonders if they think much about the art that adorns the Ponderosa's ranch house. What are the tastes of Ben and the boys when it comes to the more exotic things in life? An odd question at first glance, but as they say, truth is stranger than fiction.

Meanwhile, back at the Clark County Government Center, the Desert Sculptors Association holds court with a baker's dozen of 3-D pieces that can perhaps shed some light on my admittedly goofy query above. As individual and quirky as the Brothers Cartwright seem, this show has something for them all. And make no mistake, there are some very curious pieces in this exhibition.

Several sculptures in the exhibit are Western in theme, which should be no surprise considering my intro. Roberta Baskin-Shefrin's "The Stranger" is a bronze piece depicting a woman in a robe or blanket with a rather glazed look in her eyes (rabbit in the headlights), invoking in me visions of displaced native peoples in such Hollywood creations as Cheyenne Autumn. Lynne Jordan's "Prairie Maiden," made of burned wood, features a wraithlike maiden in prerequisite blanket, stoically contemplating universal truths. The winds of time caress them in perpetuity, and as they both seem to be cold, those winds are probably a might chilly.

By title alone, Constancia Gafeney's terracotta "Lady of Fire" at least appears not to be freezing. A woman portrayed from the hips up, she has a bit more self-confidence than the other two, with a more prosaic look on her face, at ease with the cosmos. I can see this group appealing to Ben or Adam Cartwright; heroic and kitschy, Western art of the imagination for Western characters of the same imagination.

Speaking of the cosmos, John Banks' bronze rod "Study of Number 5" makes me think of the classic display I last saw at the Griffith Observatory of the stars that make up the Big Dipper. Designed to show how that constellation can only be recognized from the Earth's vantage point, the relationships of the stars change as one walks around the display and the Dipper disappears. What is left is simply a group of stars, or a new constellation for the more imaginative. "Study of Number 5" does the same thing. It appears as a "5" from one angle and becomes a bent rod as one goes around the piece, no doubt giving Hoss and Little Joe hours of intense pleasure. Whoa.

If I am coming off as somewhat unimpressed by the work in this show, it is because none of it is really very interesting. It is gimmicky or just routine in the sense that it has all been done before, and better. On the other hand, if one is a fan of Western kitsch, this is the show to see.

Not all the work is of a New World Western bent, however. There is a marble head of Julius Caesar carved by Art Wells that made me wonder why anyone would want to carve something like that. It's not like we need another one, especially in a culture that has produced countless copies of the real things, many of which serve as decoration in places such as Caesars Palace. This is not to say that Caesar is not competently carved, and the beauty of the stone is wonderful to behold. What concerns me is the fact that I am not a Roman citizen of 2,000 years ago and my response is that of an American citizen of the present. What a carving like this means to someone today really can't be the same as what it meant to someone living during the heyday of the Roman Empire. The viewpoints, temporal and conceptual, are just too far apart. Hop Sing might like it in his quarters, though, being the cultured guy that he is.

From the sort of sublime to the over the top come two final sculptures that, once again, depict the female figure in distinctly different situations. Sue Brna's cartoonish portrayal of a very pregnant woman lying in a chair, doubtless exhausted, is titled "Bun in the Oven" (get it?). This woman, in the last weeks of pregnancy, seems to have good-naturedly accepted her lot in life. Unfortunately, there is a cheesy saccharine quality to this ceramic sculpture that trivializes what a woman really does go through when pregnant.

Last comes "All That Woman Is" by Sandra Messina. The body of a woman from the hips up, holding two birds of prey whose wings mirror the flowing cloth on her arms, this bronze is heroic sculpture at its finest. You know, I think I get the picture, and it would look good in the Cartwrights' entryway.