Bill Lohre, detail, Life, Light, Air (inspired by Chutes and Ladders and Joust),
mixed media
Bill Lohre has more than one show up at a time, with work at Vox Solid Gold until the 27th (see Roberta’s post) and work at Bambi Gallery’s Welcome to my World, up until July 20. The exhibit at Bambi, Welcome to my World, includes work by three (four?) artists, Lohre, Joshua Erbe alone and collaborating with gallerist Candace Karch, and Marie DesMarais.
Bill Lohre, installation shot of Life, Light, Air
Lohre is a model maker par excellence, but the work I found most endearing, the most poetic and open was his “Life, Light and Air” at Bambi. This is an ongoing series of floating green realms connected by chutes and ladders (the game of Chutes and Ladders is one of the inspirations for the piece). A couple of years ago, he had parts of this series in the window at the late lamented Spector Gallery, where they reminded me of the levels and landscapes of Super Mario Brothers (see post here). The scenarios here are quirky, with threatening carrots piercing the ground and hanging low from tree branches, headless pigs, and jet-powered executive rocketing upward in their Aerons.
There’s a logic, a beauty and a storybook pleasure in these works that I found elusive in his large, framed constructions at Bambi or his overwrought Midas money madness scenario at Vox.
Joshua Erb and Candace Karch, Nurse Dolly Haunts…
Erb and Karch have created photos that combine ghost-like images of dolls in religious and architectural settings, with a kind of horror movie vibe that suggests the over-active imaginations of repressed parochial school children. Although these amused me, I preferred work of Erb’s that is more modest in scale. A group of deadpan photos taken from a cat’s point of view cracked me up.
Also in the show, DesMarais’ paintings on old window panes. The works seemed a little retro, so DesMarais’ use of the distressed window frames with light coming through was a nice choice. The works seemed to aspire to motion, but didn’t quite achieve it.
