Life Aquatic @ Varnish Fine Art
77 Natoma St, San Francisco, CA 94105
7 November – 9 December 2006

works by: Aron Ives, Beth Bojarski, Dylan Sisson, Jason D’Aquino, Michael Page, Reuben Rude, Skot Olsen

Review by Klaus Menziel

I let you call me Stevesy. It sounds better.

Life Aquatic, the show currently up at Varnish in San Francisco, brings together a collection of dark, ambiguous figures living in or around the sea. Rather than a cheery and curious exploration of the deep, the artists included here choose to show a vision of the sea and its creatures in a somewhat malicious light – albeit one tinged with whimsy. They remind us that things that spend too much time in the water become distorted, bloated, discoloured. However, all of this is presented not as scientific reality but played out in a fantasy realm where even fish skeletons have the most endearing character.

It is of note that the palettes and styles are quite similar amidst the seven artists on display. In an interesting curatorial move, the people at Varnish decided to mix the artists up – rather than designated sections, the works are dispersed throughout the gallery. Although this is not the worst idea, or all that uncommon, it does not seem entirely justified, either. The effect that this jumbling has is to further point out the almost mimicking similarities between some of the artists. The impression I got – and this is just my opinion – was that there was a lot of borrowing from the Michael Page school of art.

Page, the standout artist of this show (seconded by a very similar Beth Bojarski) characteristically creates figures with discoloured faces (if they are not skeletons) and flat, distorted features that appear almost collage-like. To counteract, or perhaps undermine, the two-dimensionality of these figures, Page provides an ultrafine attention to detail – showing miniscule leaves falling from backdrop trees, slight irregularities of surface, or almost imperceptible spikes coming off a skull. His works invite a very close and long examination – like an intricately woven tapestry, they reveal some new detail with every viewing.

It is a pity, then, that because many of the other artists on display in Life Aquatic look superficially similar to Page’s paintings, they are inevitably judged in comparison – something that is compounded by how they are hung. The show has an overall feel of being nicely tied together, however, it is hard to separate each artist out – you get the sense of the lumpen group, but without the necessary individual peculiarities.

http://www.varnishfineart.com/