 |
Friday, April 22, 2005
Crayon carvings draw from a bygone childhood
Across from the Harvard Exit Theater, Joe Bar fills with Cornish College students. Passionately, they debate musical keys, art interpretations and environmental design. Computers abound, screens glowing alongside lattes and panini. No one is using a crayon.
But on shelves and in wall boxes, intimate Crayola sculptures by former Cornish student Diem Chau hail to childhoods left behind. Sculpted into the top inch of crayon totem poles, the intricate figures evoke needs of protection and preservation. Like Native American fetishes prized for spiritual renewal, Chau's characters allude to stories as the treasures that sustained her family while migrating from Vietnam to the Philippines to the United States.
Earlier nomads, the Depression hobos, carved tales into nickels, trading them for food or a bed. Adapting the hobo nickel folk art to crayons, Chau embraced the mundane as a familiar material she hopes will demystify art.
Chau's talismans celebrate people. Her "Grandmother in Beehive" told incredible stories. "Asian? Orange" (a play on Agent Orange?) depicts a kimono-clad woman with hair in a topknot. "Schoolgirls" sling book bags across their chests. "My Imaginary Big Sister" stands tall, pale and faceless, an umbrella-toting protector of her tangerine sister. A quarter-inch dog lusts after a bone clasped by a boy, the girl in "Bad Hair Day" scowls and "Bride of 17" dons a floral-crowned veil. A magnifying glass would help discern the astonishing detail.
Two large paintings (48 by 72 inches) complement the sculptures. Against an aqua background permeated by dripping pop-art dots and flowers, young men in slacks and crisp white shirts -- Chau's father and friends on graduation day -- emerge from the past. Reincarnated from photos Chau viewed after her father's death, the serene imagery manifests the exuberance, fears and hopes of youth poised at the moment of transition -- like the students at Joe Bar.
"Diem Chau" runs through April 30 at Joe Bar, 810 E. Roy St. 206-324-0407; www.joebar.org; Hours: Tuesday-Friday 7:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 8:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Monday 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
-- Judy Wagonfeld
More headlines and info from Capitol Hill.
My web site
My Yahoo!
Google
· Joseph Goldberg's new encaustic paintings glow with a mute radiance
· Lauren Grossman's 'I Told You So' offers an alternative kind of Sunday school
· Betty Bowen Award goes to photographer Isaac Layman
· New Brink Award aimed at young visual artists
more
· The Insider: Starbucks picks up a little free publicity from bungled quote
· People in the News: Split with Holly Madison has Hugh Hefner 'in the dumps'
· Oregon infant recovers from rare disease
· Getting There: What happened to the traffic sensors on I-90?
more
101 Elliott Ave. W.
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 448-8000
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
seattlepi.com serves about 1.7 million unique visitors
and 30 million page views each month.
Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
Send investigative tips to iteam@seattlepi.com
©1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Terms of Use/Privacy Policy
