Dec 12 2009
Bale Creek Allen and James Hill @ ARTLURKER
by Mary Anna Pomonis
Saturday, December 12, 2009
The Bale Creek Allen sculptures at SolwayJones remind this Jet-Setter of why Texans are just so much bigger than life. Allen’s remarkable show has just enough grace and hee-haw to position his work in the same class as Rosson Crowe’s paintings. The sculptures that dominate the show are bronze tumbleweeds – yes, actual tumbleweeds folks! – each branch delicately welded and coated in nickel, 18 karat-gold or sterling silver. These elegant sculptures sit casually cocksure in their off-kilter glory; their forms so deliberately realistic that they hover just above the surface of normalcy like moissanite or fool’s gold. The only real giveaway that these are sculptures – opposed to the real thing – is the temperature of the metal. Touching one of his pieces is as exciting as petting in the back of a classic car on a deserted highway deep in the heart of Texas (without the requisite shotgun and beer, of course) and not just because one typically shouldn’t get physical with work. Just as alluring are Allen’s cast tire treads and sculptures of gold-dipped link chains with tire treads attached. These are the Texas version of ghetto fabulosity, their links the size of one’s palm.
I think this was my favorite exhibition this year. The tumbleweeds blew me away! (pardon the pun).