Review

"Autumn Rhythm 2," Mixed Media on Paper

Lynne Hodgman
Lynneguistics

10 a.m.-3 p.m. (New Year's Day hours)

Pi Gallery and Coffee
419 E. 18th St.
Kansas City, MO
816.210.6534

First Friday Reception: 7-9 p.m.
Regular hours: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. daily
Runs through: Jan. 31

Artist's site: http://www.lynnehodgman.com
Gallery site: http://www.piartgallery.com

Come on, wake up. Brush the confetti out of your hair, splash some cold water on your face and greet 2009 with something far better than a slice of cold pizza and a couple of hours on the couch watching a bunch of dead flowers rolling down some street in California.

I got to watch part of Lynne Hodgman's show being put up earlier this week, and the first thing that struck me was how much her mixed media on paper works reminded me of Chinese or Japanese characters -- and how much, on second look, they didn't. Then, on third look, they did again -- but wait, is that Hebrew in the small strokes?

Turns out she  lived in the Bay Area for 17 years, so she saw Chinese and Japanese characters  regularly. She also saw a lot of Arabic and Hebrew writing, and that influence shows up in some of the more complex pieces (the one at the top of this post, for example).

It would be easy to think of the show's title as just a cutesy play on words, and of Hodgman as just another Westerner turning Asian culture into the art version of chop suey. But she knows whereof she puns -- and paints. She holds a BA and an MA in linguistics, as well as a BFA in painting.

The black slashes and squiggles in these pieces are what Hodgman calls  "invented glyphs,"  letters in an alphabet of her own devising. What's being said here, though? That's the mystery.  "Written language is all about ambiguity," she wrote in an e-mail message. "And ambiguity is magical."

Officially, the show doesn't open until tomorrow, with a First Friday reception from 6-9 p.m. But Pi owner Jody Wilkins, who has turned the East Crossroads gallery into a popular breakfast and lunch destination (and a welcoming hangout with comfortable couches, good books and wifi), is offering a special holiday brunch buffet today -- as well as a sneak preview of Lynneguistics. (And yes, the traditional black-eyed peas are on the menu, along with frittatas, biscuits and gravy, fresh fruit, and -- you know you need it -- coffee.)

This isn't Hodgman's only January show, by the way. She'll also be showing at Avila University's Thornhill Gallery (11901 Wornall Road, KCMO) from Jan.16-Feb. 20. That show will differ markedly from the one at Pi; she describes the pieces as "semi-sculptural installations of over 3,000 cut-out glyphs." (She had me at "semi-sculptural.") Gallery hours are noon-3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, or by appointment (816.501.2442), with an opening reception from 5-8 p.m. Jan. 23.

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