Dan's Papers - March 14, 2008 - Art Commentary With Marion Wolberg Weiss

A sampling of art shows on the East End reveals even more work celebrating the female image during March, traditionally Women's Month.

What characterizes the pieces at Amagansett's Pamela Williams Gallery is the fact that they were all created by male artists who possess consistent views concerning the female figure. Or so it seems to this critic. Of course, critics have been known to be wrong. Often.

William King's "Countess Uta" belies her royal name. Instead of sophistication, we have a child-like sculpture featuring King's signature long legs and arms. It speaks mountains about gracefulness and simplicity. The figure's non-verbal posture and gestures, like King's other female sculptures, suggest a narrative being played out.

In other words, we can perceive where this person is coming from and where she might be going. Her self-conscious pose and new dress infer a child who is in the process of emerging into a woman. As usual, the work is whimsical, charming and pervasive.

In Charles Waller's "The Bridal Suite" the viewer is left without overt non-verbal clues; all we see are two wedding dresses ( inspired by a photograph of twins by Diane Arbus). The faces are not present, and we must fill in any details from the subjects' lives. Does this mean that women are only defined by what they wear, or more specifically, by their bonding with each other (as twins) and/or with their husbands?

Yet "bonding" turns into "bondage" with Mr. Waller's pair of handcuffs placed in the middle of the wedding dresses. Is this the plight of women who get married or does it perhaps suggest Mr. Waller's own personal conflict about commitment?

Ivan Kustura's paintings offer another image of women altogether. Or perhaps not, if one considers that Mr. Waller's women are not "whole." Neither are Mr. Kustura's images. Literally.

His females are fragmented into pieces; a hand here, a pair of legs there. Such segmentation is filled with sexual connotations, recalling the graphic, sensual designs of fashion photographer Helmut Newton. Another Kustura painting features a frame-within-a-frame: a female's portrait in the foreground juxtaposed against a window; outside, a plane is flying by. The phallic symbol is obvious.

We are left with the realization that women and sex are eternally connected.

The show at Pamela Williams will be on view through the winter. Call 631-267-7817.