El Vaquero

Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Sumaya Mehai Rebecca Ripple's sculpture titled "Tongue," is an example of scale variation. Its letters, which fluctuate from big to small, coil from one end of the gallery to the center and grabs viewer attention.

Media Credit: Sumaya Mehai Student Daniel Giron focuses on a series of works by Anoka Farukee titled, "Rainbow Triplets." The flashes paint on panel pieces illustrate clusters of asterisks depicted by an array of colors.

"Another February Skies," which runs through March 10, is the first installment in a series of exhibitions on schedule for the spring semester at the Glendale College Art Gallery.

Under the direction of Roger Dickes, this current exhibit brings together a group of local artists whose works, when displayed in conjunction to one another, emit what Dickes calls a "very unusual exhibition."

"I had put it [the show] together really quickly," he said. "It was very challenging."
"Another February Skies" was installed in place of another exhibit that fell through at the very last minute.

Although scrambling to orchestrate a show last minute may sound difficult, Dickes' regular visits to artist work studios facilitated the installation of the exhibition.

For this particular showcase, Dickes acquired pieces from four Los Angeles based artists: Anoka Faruqee, Mike McMillin, John Pearson and Rebecca Ripple.

From prints, paintings and sculptures, each of the artists pieces convey a relationship between the "physical world, body and landscape," according to Dickes.

His main focus, however, was to hold true to the title, "Another February Skies," and bring the outside environment indoors.
"[I wanted to bring] the sky into the room without [having] any pictorial reference to it," he said.

Walking into the gallery, one of the pieces that stands out from the rest is Ripple's wood and Styrofoam sculpture appropriately titled, "Tongue."

At first glance one may not be able to tell what Ripple's piece illustrates. But on second look word "tongue" coils from one end of the gallery to the center and its letters fluctuate from big to small.

"[When I] see ["tongue"] spelled out in a monumental scale, the first thing that came to my mind was catching raindrops on my tongue as a kid," said Gallery Assistant John Fox.

In general, the show itself depicts the variation in scale measurement.
Farukee's piece, "Colors Observed and Magnified (MCY)," consist of two panels; one measuring 50.625-by-51.625-inches and the other, 5.625-by-5.125-inches. She created the smaller panel first by using a large brush, which was bigger than the panel itself, and several layers of translucent paint. After the small panel was complete she went on to create the larger panel, which was no easy feat.

She recalls spending weeks observing the smaller piece, mixing colors and keeping a record of them in order to try and replicate the piece, but at a much larger scale. As Farukee describes, the larger panting is a representation of what she saw in the smaller one.

Continuing with the tone of scale and the concept of the exterior conveyed indoors, Pearson's inkjet prints titled "Suns," is a series of six prints illustrating the sun. The prints are cropped details from picture postcards of sunsets.

Having the prints enlarged to 71.5-by-71.5-inches each, lends itself to imagination and wonder. Looking at the prints, one is able to visualize what the sun would look like up close as opposed to seeing it from a distance.

This show, like most exhibits in the past, is open to viewer interpretation. While some enjoy the more straightforward art, others like art student Daniel Giron, enjoy the more conceptual art.

"[I've been in the gallery] a few times," he said. "[What appeals to me] is that it's [the art] non-subjective."

Following a trend set by "A Pin-Up Show," showcased in the fall, and "Flesh Soup," which was on display this past winter and put together by Fox, Dickes is giving the students of GCC a little more leeway when it comes to participating in art shows as well as putting them together.

For the next one night only exhibition, students will be able to submit their creations in a show titled "S-M-L-XL: A T-shirt Show." Gallery staff and hosts will judge t-shirt entries which will be accepted at the gallery on March 12 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The artist's reception will be on March 13 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

This one night only show is open to all students, not just those concentrating in art.

The next major exhibit will be "Modern Lovers," a group show organized by Dickes that will showcase an array of pieces ranging from photography, paintings and sculptures.

The Art Gallery is located in the Library and is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m. For more information on "Another February Skies" or future gallery exhibits call, (818) 240-1000, ext. 5663 or visit www.glendale.edu/artgallery

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