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01/04/2006: "SPICUZZA’s SYMBOLS" by Walter King
There has been some discussion recently on the forums about visits between artists here on absolutearts. I’ve done this a few times during my various travels and usually write a little something about the artists I’ve visited whether they posted their work on Absolute Arts or not starting with my first blogs written in Argentina. Recently I had a chance to visit the studio of Carol Spicuzza in Indianapolis, IN. Carol doesn’t post on Absolute Arts but sometimes follows the blogs and the forum. She contacted me some time ago and we‘ve been talking back and forth. When I first saw her work on the net I thought it was drawn well and painted well, that the subject matter was interesting for the most part but wasn’t blown away by any means. All this changed when I walked into her house and saw the work hanging on the wall.
Carol is a small woman, quiet and studied in her speech. She told me she grew up on a family farm not far from Indianapolis. She is a self taught painter in that she has no degrees in art although she confided that she attends open drawing sessions from time to time in her area. She is well versed in Jungian symbolism, archetypes and mythology in general, something I have a passing interest in but not as deep as hers. Her bookcase, which you can just see behind her in this photo, is full of the subject. Jungs ideas and interpretations literally flood her imagery. What looks at first like fantasy images for some Sci-Fi/Fantasy book cover takes on new significance once it is understood where the imagery comes from. She doesn’t do dragons or other hoaky critters like many fantasy illustrators. No, these are deep responses to life and her consciousness of life in which the painting becomes a channel for what is above and below the waterline of consciousness. Her symbolism is drawn both from her own life experiences as well as classical Jungian interpretations of various myths and trans-cultural imagery. But here is where the problem is. The reason I didn’t take to her work immediately via the web is because of the fact that the depth of painting technique simply gets lost in the digital translation. When I saw the work on her wall I immediately saw classical painting techniques I couldn’t see in those small photos on-line. All the subtlety is washed out or becomes so dense that it disappears entirely. Colors change, become more chromatic and gaudy, thin transparent layers of glaze and wash flatten out and/or disappear altogether. These are museum quality images that appear like bad comic book illustrations on-line.
“Jewel World” is a good example of what I’m describing. First the shaping of the negative space of the cave and the contrast of value of lights and middle values against the dark cave walls flattens out the cave walls almost completely. Carol seems to intend playing the deep space of the cave and green lake as a positive reversal against the flatter negative of the cave walls. But in person the cave walls still have form and solidity that simply doesn’t show on-line. Her use of complementary hue is brilliant both intellectually and physically. But until you are standing two feet from the surface of the painting you cannot see the subtle layering of opaque and transparent glazing that reflects the title of the piece. It is truly a ‘jewel’ like surface whose colors glow with light. Only the faintest echo comes through the digital translation. Small details disappear and blend together on screen that are quite apparent up close and personal. And the problem isn’t that these are bad photographs. They are about as good as you will find displayed on the web.
Even this detail doesn’t do the work justice although here you can see the moon and its glowing ring much like on a crisp fall night in October or November floating just above the reflected light being licked by the slightly disturbed water surface. An that surface is painted with such facility, I don’t mean that it is facile in at negative way, that suggests a shallow stylistic solution…no I mean that she has the facility to describe the form of each small lapping wave with its glowing shadow troughs and reflecting peaks. You can barely see the ultramarine blue playing against lime green in this detail and the subtle violet reflection of the back wall as you get closer to the rear of the cave behind the moon. In that back wall you can just sense the blue to violet to rose to nearly orange passages that define the geological layering of the rock. These details are as carefully painted as any part of the piece and help create both light and space. And the combination of light, form and space and carefully considered archetypes create a magic that is hard to deny. Oh and did I mention that these are not oil paintings which one would expect to have such a complex layering and from which glazing was first introduced during the early Renaissance. Carol paints in both acrylics and watercolors. “Jewel World” is an acrylic painting.
“Lake of My Home” is another great example of the complexity and layering in Carols work that simply doesn ‘t come out on a computer screen. This piece is a watercolor done on three pieces of paper each overlaying the one beneath and ending at a logical alignment in the imagery. You can just see a bluish shadow cast by the central overlay just between the tops of the rock outcroppings near the bottom of the piece. You can see it more clearly in the cropped detail below.
The effect is dimensional and symbolically these overlays divide the three layers of paper and their images in an interesting way… the top third is a landscape seen between two trees at the back of the pond which is the central layer. Between the trees we see a brightly lit meadow, mountains behind and sky above. In the pond we get a reflected sky and trees and a moon precariously dipping into the water. Below this section, on the third sheet of paper is an interesting image of clouds cascading as if it were a waterfall between two large rock outcroppings. The sky is the focus in each layer the bottom layer subverting the usual sequence of sky above and ground below suggesting the whole interleaving of consciousness and reality. This piece and another she showed me have some affinity with Monet‘s paintings of sky reflected in water surfaces which I‘ve always found alluring and deeply metaphysical.Carols work reminds me that while the internet is a very useful, even revolutionary tool for contemporary artists to join the dialogue that normally only a few well promoted artists might be privy too, it is also a screen-like barrier that as often as not precludes the chance at really understanding what an artist is doing. With that in mind I think it is important to mention once again that showing or viewing work on-line is only one part of a total process. These virtual walls are valuable as a world wide audience becomes available for our work. But ultimately exhibiting ones work in a brick and mortar gallery on a real wall with real lighting that shows up the textures, the layering of paint and the true color combinations is the final destination.
This last piece is called “Light of the Earth” after a photo by Pete Saloutos. (www.petesaloutos.com) The central shaft of light suggests an undulating almost dancing human form as the light falls from the surface above down to the floor where a candle like shape burns with a sharp brilliance. Again, almost impossible to make out on-line. If anyone is interested in seeing more of Carols work it can be found at:
Carolspicuzza.com
But I strongly urge you to find a way to see her work in person if at all possible.
