"When a dog dies," a show of innovative paintings and drawings by Trevor Ryan and James Jimenez will be at [AC]2 Gallery until May 18.
Jimenez and Ryan became friends two years ago when they met while working on a construction crew.
"We immediately started talking about art because it's nice not to talk about construction," Ryan said.
Although both artists have moved on to different jobs, they still visit each other's studios and talk about art.
Jimenez's new works are drawings on stained wood panels. Small areas are densely colored by pressing hard with colored pencils leaving a shiny luminous surface that contrasts with the soft sheen of the wood.
Some panels have small painted areas and other parts are sketched in just one color or left as a colored silhouette. It's the empty space between the drawn areas that pull these compositions together.
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"My friend, Ryan, told me to leave open space," Jimenez said. "I used to fill all space. Right away, I saw this was better."
A friend's suggestion might have started Jimenez in this direction, but his sense of what not to say is superb. He teases viewers with bits of visual information he appropriates from odd sources like the instructions to an old a sewing machine or books about toys or the military.
In "Our Kids Lose with Our Heads in the Sand," the wooden panel is divided into three sections. In the center, two little girls stand in front of a 1950's style car, they and the car are rendered in brilliant colored pencil capturing the artificial quality of some old color photographs. The panels on both sides contain just one ostrich head, upside down.
Jimenez, a father, says that these drawings focus on his personal fears. With little colored bits of childhood and stark monochrome references to adult concerns, he reminds us of what societies are often too willing to squander in neglect and war.
Trevor Ryan's most successful paintings have elegantly direct compositions and emotionally complex themes.
In "Holding a monster," a man holds the opened-mouthed head of a shark in front of his genitals. From across the room, the shark reads as an oversized cowrie shell or perhaps a vagina, but on second look the aggressive shark head becomes clear.
Only a few neutral colors are used in this painting. The top of the canvas crops off the man's head.
"This man came out of a group of paintings about where the natural world and culture meet," Ryan said. "The male figure was painted very quickly. It's a sexual image - absurd and melancholic."
In "A cloud was in my hand," a man stands at the top of a Ferris wheel reaching into the sky. Just a small section of the Ferris wheel cuts into the lower part of the canvas. Both man and wheel are quickly painted silhouettes against the sky.
"He's delusional," Ryan said. "He thought he held a cloud. He's not recognizing space."
The [AC]2 Gallery is located at 301 Mountain Rd. NE. Hours are Thursday though Sunday 12-5 p.m.
