The Romance of
the Human Figure
At the Eleanor Ettinger Gallery
by Renata Bomtempo
he
human figure has been a persistent subject for well over a thousand
years. The sculptors of ancient Rome and Greece produced extraordinary
statues of Gods and Caesars. Art history students are lucky enough to
take classes that require us to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on
83rd Street and 5th Avenue, and I know because I
have been to that museum for all of my art history classes.
But when you enter the museum
and bare left you enter the ancient world section. Here are primary
examples of the heroic nude form. In exquisite statues in contraposto
portraying an almighty impression towards the viewer. The human figure
has traveled through history in the forms of the expressions of mental
disorder like Goya to Toulouse Lautrec, Edvard Munch and of course that
of Vincent Van Gogh (remember the truncated ear lobe?).
And also of exotic beauty
like Rubens. And shown for didactic purposes from the liturgy in
frescoes and murals of Medieval Europe cathedrals. The human figure as
also been used as body art and performance art. You remember Chris
Burden being shot in the shoulder by a friend or being crucified on the
roof of a Volkswagen. All of this being said we can now turn to the
exhibition at hand, that at the Eleanor Ettinger Gallery on Spring
Street, Soho. It is an eight-artist show that is displaying the human
figure. One of the most powerful artists in this series is that of
Gregory Calibey.
Calibey is definitely the
artist to see in this exhibition. His paintings are so evocative and
pure at the same time. The colors are very light and pastel and the
brushwork is intensely impressionistic and the presence of Degas is
floating through every stroke of the artist's brush. One in particular
is Behind the Screen. This painting portrays two women behind a
screen changing before a dance rehearsal. The figures are ardently
concerned in their everyday activity.
But, here this everyday
activity is shown intensely romantic and passionate. The colors are soft
and portray the characters as muses for a poet. The viewer here is
intruding in their intimate and ethereal performance of changing their
clothes. The performance appears so graceful and elegant and alludes us
to their dance rehearsal and also the dancers of Degas' paintings and
his sculptors.
The space is rendered more
two-dimensional because the screen doesn't appear to fold forward or
backward. This same space is reminiscent of that of Malcolm T. Liepke
who was also exhibited in this gallery last year. Another romantic
painting is titled First Solo. The painting is that of a single
dancer in a black leotard in a clear background. The dancer is shown
concentrated on something and the viewer could only winder that she is
looking at a dance step or just simply resting. The outlines of her body
clearly blend into the background and her body is painted with curves
and soft, sweet and smooth textures that make her emerge as an emotion
of the loyalty, hard work and passion of a dancer.
I have to say that when I first
saw these two painting I was struck with such emotion and beauty that I
wanted to refund my tuition so as to purchase these paintings myself.
But, alas, Behind the Screen was already sold for $5,775. I found
myself being lured by the movement of the hands of the woman unbuttoning
her skirt and compelled by the flowing hair that seduces the viewer's
eye.
What is it about dancers that
allures and entices so many artists to paint them? Degas is famous for
his ballet lessons series and the sculptor of the solo dancer. Could it
be the emotions that are portrayed when one dances, the movement and the
physical nature of the performance are so telling of a single act of
human expression? Whatever the case it may be this exhibition is
extremely compelling. The moment that one walks through the glass doors,
one is surrounded by the human figure, the human life and the human
emotions.
Even though I am concentrating
on Calibey, that does not mean that the rest of the exhibition has
nothing else to offer. Paul G. Oxborough's Cafe Rouge
demonstrates a viewers role has a spectator because the vermilion in
this canvas, the far distance conversation of the two people and how the
space seems to move upward in a plane is so enticing to keep on gazing.
This exhibition of an eight
artist show is now running to January 30, 2000 at the Eleanor Ettinger
Gallery. The humans are potent with emotion and that Vermeer quality of
the ethereal performance of the everyday. Another must in my list of
exhibitions to see this year. The human figure shown in almost poetic
romance can not be anymore rendered so beautiful. So, go see that Degas
at the Met., but don't forget this show of the up and coming artists of
the human figure.
he
human figure has been a persistent subject for well over a thousand
years. The sculptors of ancient Rome and Greece produced extraordinary
statues of Gods and Caesars. Art history students are lucky enough to
take classes that require us to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on
83rd Street and 5th Avenue, and I know because I
have been to that museum for all of my art history classes. 
