Review

"Under Cover," Acrylic, ultra-chrome ink, and collage on canvas.

Larry Thomas
Ploys & Decoys

11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art
Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom
5500 W. 123rd St.
Overland Park, KS
913.266.8413

Hours: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 1-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
Runs through: Feb. 28.

Artist's site: http://www.larrythomasart.com
Gallery site: http://www.kcjmca.org

They're staples of children's magazines and newspaper supplements: Puzzles that ask solvers, "How many things can you find inside this picture?"

The idea is to pull out a pencil (pen if you're supremely confident) and start circling the hidden birds, faces, horses, random images, etc. The key is to see through all the details to find those concealed images.

They're not hiding behind anything, after all. They're all in plain sight.

On a higher and far more visually interesting level, that's what's going on in Larry Thomas' Ploys & Decoys, which runs through Sunday afternoon at the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art's Epsten Gallery. (The Epsten is located inside the Village Shalom retirement community in Overland Park.)

At first glance my prints and paintings appear quite abstract, Thomas writes, but closer inspection reveals complex layers of realistic images that seem to camouflage other hidden objects or figures.

Thomas, an instructor and chairman of the art department at Johnson County Community College, achieves his desired effect through a combination of painting, printing and collage. The final result (see Under Cover, today's featured image) is hardly what leaps to mind as an example of camouflage: It's intricate and it conceals, yes, but it's also eye-grabbingly bright and bold.

Then again, art that faded into the walls wouldn't be all that effective, would it?

Thomas acknowledges the inherent conflict:

Camouflage as an immune system, or even as an assault tactic, is of particular interest to me.  Plants, animals, sea life, insects, and humans all use this cunning tool of optical deception.  For me the interesting aspect of this kind of defense system, based on disguise and duplicity, is that it’s primarily a visual device designed to make things invisible, while art is normally involved in making the invisible (thoughts, ideas, emotions) into something visible.

When people use camouflage fabric and face paint, it's often in conjunction with weaponry (whether of hunting or of war).

But, Thomas writes, This is only one way individuals use visual deceit.  In our transactions with day-to-day survival we utilize camouflaging strategies such as mimicry, blending, assimilation, pretending, and so on.  We use these behaviors to camouflage our true identities, and to protect us in the variety of situations and environments we find ourselves.

A fellow contributor has explored that aspect of Thomas' work in an insightful Review piece, which can be found here. Rather than try (and fail) to reinvent that wheel, I'll make three suggestions:

1. Read that piece, Beyond the Camouflage.

2. Go to the Epsten and take in Ploys & Decoys, even if you've seen it before.

3. Treat Thomas' works as puzzles and see how many concealed images you can identify. (Freebie: the blue human figure in Under Cover).

And by all means, have some fun and show it. Emotional camouflage might be necessary in poker games and business negotiations, but it has no place here.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Updating...