Review

"Rootdown," Hand-forged Iron.

George Rousis
Visual Expressions
(Group Show)

5-9:30 p.m.
(Opening reception)

Gas Light Gallery and Studio
12 E. Peoria, Suite 200
Paola, KS
913.963.4201

Hours after opening reception: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.
Runs through: Feb 26.

Artist's site: http://www.organicironconcepts.com

In chemistry, organic means carbon-based. In the produce aisle, it means  means all natural, no artificial preservatives, fertilizers or pesticides.

In George Rousis' art, organic means metal brought to life under the strategic and persistent application of heat and muscle.

My words, not his. This is how Rousis, a modern-day Hephaestus (without the limp) in a Utilikilt, explains his art:

I love to move metal.  Using the traditions of blacksmithing as a stepping off point, my organic aesthetic enlivens the fluid movement of the functional and sculptural ironwork I create.  Via the fire metal becomes an almost fluid substance influenced easily by the strike of a hammer, snap of the wrist or twist of the body, thus allowing the potential of the material to grow, move and be free.

Given freedom and guidance, metal takes all sorts of fanciful shapes under Rousis' ministrations: from jewelry to sculpture, wall hangings to home furnishings. His work will be part of the Visual Expressions group show at Gas Light Gallery and Studio in downtown Paola. The show and the gallery both open tonight, with a reception from 5 to 9:30 p.m., and there will be a second reception on Feb. 6 as part of the Paola Art Crawl.

(Rousis is a busy fellow: He also  has work up in the Fresh + Local show at the 39th Street location of Rm 39, with a reception set for Jan. 31, and he'll be in the Slap-n-Tickle (Me) Gallery's erotica show in February in the Crossroads.)

Gas Light is on the second floor of an old furniture (and coffin) store just off Paola's downtown square. Inside, owner/director Amanda Martin has created a space that's worth the walk up the wooden staircase outside.

Rousis' art occupies a prominent place in the center of the gallery, and Martin has arranged the pieces to convey a narrative of attraction, reproduction, evolution and creation. (No further spoilers. You want the details, go see them for yourself.)

I can give you one hint, however: The story culminates in 2001's Rootdown, today's featured piece. Yes, it's functional art — a barstool, to be exact. That function is married, however, to an utterly fanciful form. If H.R. Giger planted a lump of iron ore in Tim Burton's garden, this is the sort of thing that would come up (and that's a good thing).

"I really wanted to make a whole bar for the space where I was living," Rousis says. "I wanted it to be this sort of organic root-y system that you could sit on and get lost in. It's very comfortable. It wasn't going to be a stand-alone piece."

Iron doesn't grow on trees, of course, but Rousis has proven himself an adept forager for raw material.

I use recycled materials when I can, he writes.  I often see forms in objects and must release them.  Giving life and respect to something as banal as an old section of rail or small chunks of stock cut from the end of a newel post make me feel alive.

That stimulant works on viewers as well as on the artist ... and the best thing is, it's organic.

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