The gallery this month is a study in comparisons. Our two October exhibits, Elif Soyer: Artifact and Paul Andrade: Underlying Harmonies co-exist and complement each other, sharing a concern with objects – finding or making them.
Each of Elif Soyer’s works evokes an archeological site, each embedded object implies some kind of narrative, each object is seemingly left behind. We look to objects to tell us their own stories and we put them together hoping to understand a larger history. Her work brings to my mind the work of the American visual artist Leonard Drew and the Turkish author Orhan Pamuk and his Museum of Innocence, an actual museum filled with objects used by characters from the novel of the same name. In this show, Elif creates her own archeology whose implied excavation is both literal and metaphoric.
Paul Andrade’s small elegant paintings also bring to mind other artists, in particular two Boston artists, David Moore and Bill Thompson, He shares with them a visceral handling of the paint and a clear love of and exuberance for color. The paintings become a pure experience both for the artist and the viewer. The paintings are the objects that hold us in their intensity and the physicality of the materials themselves. The colors wrap around the support; they vibrate and hold our attention in a purely formal way. These paintings are rewarding and visually demanding at the same time.
Image: Elif Soyer, 8 in 1, Clay and Concrete on Metal and Wood,18 x18 x 5 inches, 2013
Image: Paul Andrade, Value Scale #4, 24 x 24 inches, Enamel on aluminum, 2012-2013
Kingston Gallery 