A few readers may need the title of the exhibition now at NVISION in Northside explained. If you lag in current verbal by-play and are puzzled by Sofa King Good, try saying it aloud starting with “so” and running the rest together, fast. Got it? Yep. Good stuff here.
Arynn and Joel Blazer, the husband-and-wife duo whose work is on display in Sofa King Good, are enamored of pattern. They work individually, but in this joint show it’s apparent they look over each other’s shoulder pretty frequently while still maintaining personal approaches. Establishing order in a universe of much-ness seems the primary quest of each. NVISION, where the stock of vintage clothing and furnishings crowd the space, is an ideal setting for artists concerned with such a feat.
Arynn has never contemplated a straight line, judging from her embroidery pieces shown here. Even some of the pieces themselves eschew rectangular framing for circle shapes. She dyed and bleached fabric and shaped clay additions to certain works; in some pieces her sinuous shapes move across a rural idyll or a vase of flowers or some other composition by another hand — found art she has elaborated on.
Joel’s work fills an adjoining wall and is as individual as Arynn’s, although the relationships between the two bodies of work are immediately apparent. He is the first artist of my experience to turn a skateboard into an object of art, and he does so in this show four times. The under surface is what he likes, top and bottom curving back. On these and many other surfaces he applies variations of stylized petal shapes formed into an orderly flower that — among other things — can relate to automobile wheels. Who knew?
Sofa King Good
is on view at NVISION (4577 Hamilton Ave., Northside) through Dec. 31. More info: nvisionshop.com.
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2014.