Ursula Perl and Vera Bensen
Ursula Perl
May 31-July 30, 2000
Please join us for the artists’ reception
Sunday, June 4th, 11:00 to 2:00
Vera Bensen
The combination of paper collages by Ursula Perl and fabric collages by Vera Benson at the Lacuna Gallery, 517 Laguna Street, Santa Barbara, through July 30, hours 1 to 5 Wednesday through Sunday, is intriguing not only because of the vivid contrast in size, style and subject matter each artist has to offer, but because of the totally different ways each artist tries to lure the viewer into taking the time to see what is really there.
Bensen’s work is designed for large walls, but not necessarily for large rooms. Drawing on her experience and enthusiasm as a conservationist, she presents a very large, realistic outdoor scene, one of our many placid Southern California native landscapes. At first glance, everything seems very bland, which, in itself is an attraction, because one can get right up close and be comfortable with it, whereas in most large paintings, one wants to get away in order to observe the work from a distance.
When one is right up there, relaxed and with it, one suddenly begins to notice tiny, little things that did not appear to be there before – little stitches, embroideries – tiny flowers start appearing, the trees seem more shapely, and, in less time than it sometimes takes to find the subtle beauties of Carpinteria landscapes outdoor, one begins to enjoy the beauties created by the art of collage.
Perl’s work, being much smaller, and often not merely abstract, but even strange, has to take a totally different approach – it must not only catch your eye, but it must hold your attention and make you look even closer. What she wants the viewer to experience from a particular collage is not always what is seen at first glance. What she is interested in sharing are intangibles, such as softness versus hardness, the sheer joy of different colors, memories of emotions and often simply the vagaries of past experiences, some brilliantly remembered, some practically lost through neglect.
Before she can relax you enough to bring up such frightening topics as beauty and truth, she knows that she has to razzle-dazzle with sheer technique – and I know of no other artist whohas ever been able to use so many teeny-tiny bits to form such single homogeneous wholes that are so often – well, yes, admit it – so beautiful and so real.
At first glance, for instance, Wine Cellar looks simple enough, but it is not formed with a single image, nor even two or three. Energie is a simple enough putting together of maybe some ten or fifteen pieces, but what about Computer Brain, or City Ligthts? But then, few of the collages are this simple. Perl involves herself with the contrast between reality and imagination, between the soft and the hard, between reality and fantasy. She’s sure enough of herself that she can take wild chances, such as the cutout of a girl’s face in Feeling Blue.
What does it all mean? That’s not the point. The point is that she has the courage to try to turn abstract aesthetics into something you can look at and think about.
Finally, and I don’t really know whether this was because she became bored with perfection or (more likely) because it was another way to express its attraction, there is a small group of what seem willful mistakes. On the inside edge of a multi-colored cluster of razor-thin arcs, the inside cut reveals the stark white of the paper itself. In another, a central brown horizontal piece is somehow a hair too big and its weight completely destroys the illusion created by the subtle verticals behind. In a third, two large clusters of shiny, bright stalactite abstractions deliberately refuse to fit at all – a strong image, even tragic, but somehow much more complicated and “contemporary” than the old adage that Beauty equals Truth.
Ursula Perl, over the last 30 years in which I’ve seen her work – mostly piecemeal, one at a time in group shows, is one of the double-handful of twentieth century Santa Barbara artists who will continue to be remembered and unmatched for years to come.