Saoirse reviews The Seadrake Gallery:
“Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love.” POLONIUS from Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Eliza Wierwight has been working artistic magic in world for quite a while. I could spend hours writing about her SIM, visit it another day, and write even more about it. The Elephant & Seadrake Gallery at Patron is tucked away from the initial teleport in a seaside corner beyond the main house. I had to tear myself away from Eliza’s artful designs and art work itself to make my way back to the gallery area. There is nothing in world this woman hasn’t designed or improved for her SIM. [Suggested light for viewing gallery is Sunrise and Midnight]
On display in the gallery since January 13 of this year is an installation of art works by Stephen Venkman. Online Venkman terms his art ‘Visualizations with Venkman’ sharing information on the Mycology or the study of…wait for it….mushrooms. I find learning a bit about the artist frequently leads me down the path of an intellectual. In this case I feel many in world will enjoy that little tidbit as much as Lewis Carroll would indeed.
Unbeknownst o me Venkman has a liking for light play in images, one of my personal favorite features. In his images there is often detail in the background that I had to linger to find. He has a female nude with man standing behind. Yes I have seen many nudes in world and usually I steer away from them for just that reason. In this nude, The image is not about nudity but easily about vulnerability. The bodies are sill-o-wets and lie perfectly on the Y axis of the window frame. The window frame forming the cartesian grid or the coordinate plane. Wooden window slats have perfectly formed shadows falling through them. Outside is winter, no leaves on the tree and very dark with cirrus clouds. Although the image has color, it feels as cool as a black and white. I see beauty, balance, and the very emotions that gives me butterflies in my stomach.
A couple of his images contain bats in the background or foreground. Bats are mysterious creatures to most of us even if we understand the basic facts about them. I considered that as I viewed the pictures holistically. There is a hallway image in yellow fading to a distant doorway. Far into the distance there are bats. Another picture has bats flying around a surrealist landscape at sunset with a sculpture of a woman facing west. Salvador Dali appears to influence some of the work with the surreal and the time references. Eliza has several references on property of Dali as well as a picture of him in one of the house galleries.
Walking around the installation I notice that he uses shadow, light and color to move other images in and out of view. ‘Ghost of Hallow’s Past’ has the shadow of the man appears more detailed prominent than the man in the foreground of the picture. The detailed shadow seems as if it is human man, the foreground a hooded figure similar to the figure of death. A-ha an image whose name I understand…<smiles>
Shadows surround a crouched image of a woman using orange reds. Keeping on this theme he contrasts black and white with vivid red lines [Orlando Innamorato] and cube shapes or a lush landscape in black and white only. His self portrait pieces are among the kind that do not showcase the artist in the frame but instead the ‘art of the artist’. I think I see Dali in ‘Orlando Inamorato’ in both form and shadow. ‘A Dream of the Past’ looks painted with dark oils on panel.
‘Micah’s Magic’ has integrated color textures of reds, dark blues and smoke with a darken psychedelic blend effect. The face paint worn by Micah, as well as his eyes, stand out in the lower center of the portrait. There are a couple landscapes “Sea Salt’ and “Time Traveler” where the peaceful image blurs towards the horizon. ‘Time Traveler’ made me think of don quixote with a single rider moving into the distance.
‘Eye on ChouChou’ is a return to the surreal, and a wee bit of Monty Python. In the movie “The Meaning of Life’, the director uses brightly colored sky in the animated scenes of the movie. The sky in this picture is that brightly colored image. Others have probably seen it in other locations all of them eye pleasing. Is our ChouChou reference anime? ‘Ricky Love’ shows the artist using the silk screen process influence of Andy Warhol and then playfully the artist teases us with a cat perched on the shoulder. I love these individual touches the artist makes on his work.
The final image I will tell you about here is ‘I Believe in Everything’. I think this is a keeper for anyone who is a fan of the television series Grimm. I won’t tell you why, Grimm fans come and see for yourself. This installation stands on its own as simply a wonderful array of art by Venkman. I felt privileged to view it in the beautiful and unforgettable landscapes of Eliza with ambient sounds of wind chimes and sea waves. Displaying each piece of a easel with gold brown leaves on each leg is a real touch of elegance.
Artfully yours, Saoirse Heart
Kultivate Arts 
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