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Friday, March 18, 2011

Shared Vision Lobato, Marshall's work jointly exhibited at Winterowd

By Kate Mcgraw
For the Journal
          Artists Emilio Lobato and James Marshall have an informal mutual admiration society going, so it is appropriate that their work is being exhibited in a two-man show opening today at Winterowd Fine art on Canyon Road.
        "I have only high regard and a lot of respect for Emilio's paintings. My sense is that we're probably coming from the same place," Marshall said.
        "I was in a group show with James about 15 years ago, and I've been quite taken with his sculptures ever since," Lobato told the Journal. "The underlying foundation of his work seems similar to mine. His colors are so vivid and his shapes are so organic."
        "My exploration begins with geometric shapes," Marshall, the ceramic sculptor, explained. "As I draw those shapes, and play with them, and work with them, and invite them to transform, they shift into something almost recognizable, yet not quite; geometry relaxes, becomes fluid, organic, sensuous, and the object-to-be emerges. The media that I choose are mutable and plastic and lend themselves naturally to the metaphor and exploration of emergence, becoming, and the liminal."
        Lobato noted how well the works "speak to each other. Our palettes and a sense of underlying order are quite complementary." Marshall's medium, clay, "is ancient yet modern." Lobato said he, too, is inspired by the very old and the disciplined. His paintings are very referential to Spanish and Navajo weaving, reflecting his heritage as a member of one of northern New Mexico/southern Colorado's oldest Hispanic families. Lobato spoke of building his painted surface one strand at a time, as a weaving grows and "the way a life is built."
        Winterowd owner-gallery director Karla Winterowd said she decided to call the joint show "Shared Geometry."
        "Emilio and James share an exciting understanding and faith in geometry," she said. "In this case, shape is used to express the indescribable. Both men use iconic forms as a universal language. Both artists intend for their work to go beyond self-expression."
        Emilio Lobato
        Lobato grew up in San Pablo, Colo., a tiny village nine miles from the larger town of San Luis, just over the New Mexico line. Lobato said he is the 16th generation of his family in the country. Both of his great-grandfathers were weavers, and he has a deep understanding of that craft. "My grandfather had thousands of sheep," he said. "I think wool is in my DNA."
        "Lobato is an artist present in today, aware of the past," Winterowd said. "The meditative quality of his paintings, the bands of color and the grid evoke the work of Agnes Martin. Words like duality, equity and transcendent describe Lobato's painting. His use of black supplies the paintings with depth, drama and narrative."
        Lobato earned a degree from Colorado College in 1982 and lives and works in Denver. Most of the paintings he's showing at Winterowd are from his "weaving series." He calls his work mixed-media. He covers a canvas or board in paper — often pages from old books of poetry or antique dictionaries — and then applies oil paint by hand to create a patina and bring light. The resulting images are not unlike weavings.
        Lobato said he chooses the printed pages for texture and variety, not subject. "I just think script is so beautiful; it's a testament to human achievement," he said.
        "I have a deep-rooted sense of identity, having such a long history in New Mexico. I like the idea of my paintings looking like they had a history," Lobato added. As a child, he learned to weave on an upright Navajo loom. "I feel there's a parallel in our lives," the artist said. "We build our lives one line at a time. I also am very attracted to the repetitiveness of weaving."
        The Winterowd show is being held in conjunction with a mid-career retrospective of Lobato's work over the last 30 years created this spring at the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. After May 22, the retrospective will travel to museums in Sedona, Ariz; Ashland, Ore. and Missoula, Mont. "When I was going to Colorado College, I use to walk over and visit the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. I could never have imagined that 25 years later I would have a show there," Lobato said.
        James Marshall
        Marshall lives and works in Santa Fe, having grown up in western Pennsylvania. Thirty years ago, he began working in ceramics and found an affinity. "I was a pre-law major and in my senior year, I took an art class that happened to be ceramics. It really transformed my life, to put it mildly," he said. "I abandoned law and began to pursue the artist's life."
        Marshall has worked in several media, including wood constructions and cast bronzes, but he returns to clay. "The clay is a medium that opens me up artistically," he said. "I think it is important that you work with a medium that allows you to pursue your vision. I didn't fall in love with clay. I fell in love with the process of creating art, and I've been doing ceramics off and on for 30 years."
        His slab-built, hollow sculptures have a monumental feel to them, Winterrowd noted. There are multiple glaze firings; the artist is known for his masterful use of reds and blacks, she said.
        "My exploration begins with geometric shapes," Marshall said. "As I draw those shapes, and play with them, and work with them, and invite them to transform, they shift into something almost recognizable, yet not quite: geometry relaxes, becomes fluid, organic, sensuous, and the object-to-be emerges. The mediums that I choose are mutable and plastic and lend themselves naturally to the metaphor and exploration of emergence, becoming, and the liminal.
        "My desire as an artist is to create beautiful objects that are a colorful presence. The essence of this work, then, is really color and light and how the color and light of a form radiates into the life," Marshall added. "What motivates me is the question: 'When does an ordinary object move into other dimensions?' It is this 'unidentified' dimension of a form that intrigues me the most. This leaves the work open to multiple interpretations.
        "There is a deep beauty that resides inside of the indeterminate, the saturated chroma, the light that radiates out into the life," he said. "A life where everything is what it is, and nothing is what it seems. Where color, energy, light and form merge into one — that is where I do my work."
       

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