Review

A review of j.m.rees: quasi-objects of a mental kind

j.m.rees, "Optical algorithm J75," casein, oil stain, and lacquer on antique pine, 23¼" x 42¼", 2010. Photo: E.G. Schempf, courtesy of the artist

Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art
Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom
Overland Park, Kansas
May 16 — June 27, 2010

Even though the latest solo exhibition by j.m.rees conveys a keen interest in the colors and textures of buildings and interior spaces, its most compelling and well-executed pieces feel out of place in the space they currently occupy.

In the center of the gallery space stands Babilu Tower, a teepee of recycled steel and lumber a little more than 15 feet tall. Broad ribbons of clear plastic fan out from the sculpture, each adorned with patterns of amorphous spots in green, orange, purple, and red and with random letters that look just like the kind that show up on Internet verification programs, the kind that deter spambots. "Babilu" is the original name for Babel, and it means “gate of god.” Together, the title, imagery, and architectonic form an interesting story or point. But as an abstract, the sculpture is not as toothsome as the other works.

j.m.rees, installation view, "Babilu tower," Dimensions variable (15'-4" tall), recycled steel angle and lumber, casein, and oil-based paint and UV ink on polycarbonate, dimensions variable (height, 15'4"), 2010. Photo: E.G. Schempf, courtesy of the artist

On the long walls on either side of the sculpture hang 15 abstracts of casein, oil stain, and lacquer on antique pine. The wood appears to be demolition debris from old buildings, and it forms both the image area and the frames, which are wide borders generally with contrasting shades. In his personal and other professional life, the artist is known as Jack Rees, an architect who operates Jack Rees Interiors, which provides a clue about his selection of materials and themes. On the framed areas, j.m.rees has layered patterns with very subtle variations in tone and hue — gold, muted blues, greens, pink — all in varying degrees of transparency, so the wood grain and the imperfections of the boards show through. They are a lot like decorative patterns, the kind that might show up in wallpaper — laurels and leaf forms, patterns of dots, paisley type shapes, checker boards, sunbursts, flowers, sinuous stripes — but they are not done with machined precision or commercial slickness. The designs emerge as clearly done by hand, with unsteadiness, almost quickness of execution apparent. Layered over one another, they form new patterns, like a moire. Each is named Optical Algorithm and is numbered and lettered in a sequence that I couldn’t decipher: A45, Q67, K76 and so on.

j.m.rees, "Optical algorithm N845," casein, enamel, oil stain, and lacquer on antique pine, 23¼" x 42¼", 2010. Photo: E.G. Schempf, courtesy of the artist

There’s nothing particularly arresting about the images, owed in part to their pattern-basis as opposed to a composition with clear lines of contrast and tension. Still, there’s a ghostlike quality to them that is quite intriguing. They convey an idea of histories, layers of lives making their marks on building structures, and how those marks fade over time. And it might not be fair to point this out, but they seem to be out of place on the bright, white walls of Epsten Gallery. They have a quality of arresting beauty that you might happen upon in a darker, more cluttered space, like in an old house, and taken from that sort of environment they lose something.

Lastly, off in a corner is Portrait of My Mother, a digital animation displayed on a flat-screen monitor, in which a grid of dots that change rhythmically into triangles and squares to form patterns and a highly pixelated picture of a woman with a scarf tied around her neck. There’s an echo here, obviously, of the patterns and notions of memory that Rees is getting at with the Optical Algorithm series, but it feels disconnected, partly because of the high-tech medium and partly because the patterns on the screen lack the organic and human quality of the other works. As such, we have little emotional connection to the subject (not in the way one presumes the artist himself certainly must) and we don’t feel the sense of discovery that comes when looking at the wood pieces on the wall.

j.m.rees, "Portrait of my Mother," from the series "Portraits and Patterns," digital animation, duration variable, 2009. Image: courtesy of the artist

Notes:
*For another view of the artist, please see a recent profile on Review by Janell Meador.
**A free public lecture, "My Jewish Intellectual Roots, Part II," is scheduled for June 23 at 3 p.m. in the Village Shalom social hall; rees describes it as a "fun and hopefully funny" follow-up to a lecture on May 23; the artist also plans to be at the gallery on the 27th, from noon to 4 p.m. to greet visitors and answer questions before the exhibition closes. There is also a limited-edition artist book-as-catalogue for this exhibition available.

-re-

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