Roy Boyd Gallery has upped the ante for summer group shows by having gallery artists select younger, unrepresented artists and throwing works by all of them into the mix. The method may not make for the most consistent of shows curatorially, but it`s nothing if not lively.
A number of the younger artists favor the sort of body-oriented object sculpture that is the order of the day, but there are still some surprises left in it. Christine LoFaso, selected by Anne Wilson, gets a good deal of mileage out of Pellon, a fabric bond that she uses to hold together a large dress or poncho composed of photocopies of credit card receipts. Three smaller pieces, also of Pellon, utilize abstract forms resembling clothing patterns, augmented by groups of buttons or AA batteries.
Joan Livingstone`s choice, Sharon McConnell, takes on the dangerously ubiquitous bathroom motif in one of her works. More successful is a very minimal, mysteriously evocative work called ”Flight” that pairs two small wall sculptures. In one, a wax egg filled with seeds is held aloft by a metal ring like that used to dip Easter eggs; the other takes the same ring and attaches a long windsock shape made of gut.
Rex Silvernail, chosen by Bruce White, takes a page from the Martin Puryear catalog with his large-scale wood sculptures. Both of them, a floor piece and a sculpture that hangs from the ceiling, take a gourdlike shape of wood slats and subtly alter it just enough to mark it as the artist`s-rather than nature`s-creation.
Promising as these works are, the gallery graybeards pretty well steal the show. Stephen Luecking`s works situate a Brancusi-esque, sliced ovoid form of iron on shelves that both draw attention to themselves as modes of presentation and become part of the sculpture. ”Cyclo,” in fact, actually embeds the sculpture within its platform, erasing the distinction between the two.
And Mary Lou Zelazny has contributed a large-scale collage-painting that may signal a shift in her treatment of figures. ”Swamp Sticks” are three erect concatenations of collaged leaves, bugs and birds balancing on spindly legs like flamingos. Although the overall format of collaged figures within mostly painted interior or exterior has not changed, these graceful but unnerving forms are quite different from the reclining monsters of her last show.
Also represented in the exhibition are gallery artists William Conger and Rodney Carswell as well as Ellen Campbell, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, James Pogozelski and John Terdich. The show can be seen through Sept. 8 at 739 N. Wells St.
In Perimeter Gallery`s group show of artists little-known in Chicago, three abstract works from Sandra Lerner`s Mist series stand out.
All three-one an oil on linen, another utilizing mixed media on rice paper, and a third of oil and collage on linen-are mostly gray with streaks here and there of pale blue or gold, heavily textured and encrusted with paint. The rice paper in the one piece has also been crumpled and otherwise distressed.
Also included in the show are paintings by Ellen Ferar and David Trout and ceramic works by Sylvia Hyman. The exhibition continues through Sept. 1 at 750 N. Orleans St.
Experimental films by Sandra Binion and Ryusuke Ito will be presented at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago`s Film Center at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Both artists are masters of fine arts candidates at the school, and a reception will immediately follow the screening.
The Film Center is at Columbus Drive at Jackson Boulevard. Admission is free and open to the public. Call 312-443-7309.
