View of "At Sea"

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Maura has many talents from a published poet to a classical pianist and brings this rigorous training and approach to orchestrating words on a page or playing Tchaikovsky that she also brings to her artwork. Nothing is out of place in Maura’s world of imagery, not a line, not a brushstroke, not a false note anywhere. Each mark, each imprint is as direct as the next, converging line and color, butted together, taking hold on the canvas or on the paper, building, stacking like Tinker Toys in some Mondrian “Boogie Woogie” patchwork quilt of line and color. It is the simplicity and the freshness of the result that boggles the mind. It is pure alchemy taken to some mystical and iconic level. It just works and you don’t know why, and honestly, you shouldn’t care – everything you’ll ever need to know is before your eyes. Pure joy.

Art Produce Gallery is one of the few galleries in San Diego that requires its artists to think. It is beautiful space, seductive space with a large narrow alley of a concrete floor, a large white wall and an equally large floor to ceiling storefront window that parallels University Avenue. If you close the large folding doors that lead into the back half of the gallery, imagine if you will an “L” lying on its side, you’ll lop off the shorter leg and transform it into a fishbowl, an aquarium, a vacuum ready to be filled. It is also vicious space; cruel space if the artist refuses to work within the confines and insists and/or falsely believes his work will overpower and dominate. I’ve seen a couple heroic battles lost in vain because the opponent was underestimated. Thankfully, Maura understood this and has managed to pull off a simple and exquisite installation of two not so different bodies of work that roll across the gallery walls.

The first part, “At Sea”, is according to Maura, “a graphite on paper installation that depicts the rise and fall of a wave, abstractly done in very complex doodling patterns. I want the viewer to feel the rhythm and flow of this wave in the same way as I have, getting immersed in the complex detail of the drawing and visually following the calming repetitive patterns of waves either figuratively or experienced actually in nature. I feel a strong link in the repetitive pattern of ‘At Sea’ to the repetitive sounds of the music of composer John Adams.” For those of you not familiar with John Adams, here is a brief excerpt from the Wikipedia Encyclopaedia:

Initially known as a minimalist, Adams has in his mature work harnessed the rhythmic energy of Minimalism to an extraordinary harmonic palette and fertile orchestral imagination, with the strong influence of late-Romanticism evident. Concurrently he has introduced references to a wide range of 20th-century idioms — both 'popular' and 'serious' — in works such as his operas, the wittily eclectic orchestral piece Fearful Symmetries, which touches on Stravinsky, Honegger, and big-band swing music.

“At Sea” in its current state comprises twelve 11” x 14” sheets of paper mounted horizontally with approximately a quarter inch of space inbetween each panel, mounted subsequently on a rich light marine blue vinyl background that bleeds out from underneath and frames the drawings into one long continuous wave of line and pattern. It is indeed a panorama of an abstract wave building, cresting and falling onto the paper’s shore. If Eadweard Muybridge had photographed mother nature instead of his fellow man, we would have enjoyed the same frame-by-frame inqusinetiveness and discovery, that we discover in Maura’s drawing. It is this cinematic framing, cell by cell, that is the power and force of “At Sea” crashing upon the gallery wall in a vivid blue gash, as we the spectator lost perhaps at sea, are a lone survivor riding each and every intersecting and colliding prismatic wave. But wait, there is so much more to these drawings. If looking at the drawing from afar, the contour of each successive wave rising a few centimeters at a time, might ressemble a series of mountains and valleys that peak roughly in the middle, touching the paper’s clear sky only to descend in rythmic undulating waves smaller and smaller. I suspect that there is no right or wrong way to read the drawing starting either from left to right or from the opposite direction.

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However, if you look closer you’ll discover an infinite amount of delicately drawn lines in various thicknesses and density, light grey wisps to darker bolder shades of consecutive and repetitive patterning. Imagine the scales on a fish, how they are stacked, not exactly over layering one another but not exactly separate either – they move in unison and flow across the curve of the body giving off different shades of light and dark. This is how each and every mark from Maura’s pencil has been caressed onto the paper. They expand and contract never breaking like some Knight’s protective maille. View image

I don’t suppose that Maura suffers from any form of Horror Vacui but I do believe her when she says that in the process of creating the drawing, it was not a tedious and exhausting exercise in futility – there are sections in the drawing that are so delicate and so small that they are almost imperceptible to my eye, but rather calming, therapeutic, relaxing, a murmur, a whisper, a musical constant, never ending never faltering – like the sea. But Maura pushes it even further. Within each flattened abstract wave are divided “sections” or continents of these pencil strokes that collide into one another like some primordial plate tectonics each pushing in their own direction of various degrees and intensity. Surprisingly, the overall effect is soft and muted like the underbelly of a serpent gliding through the tall grasses. Contained controlled chaos.

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“At Sea” is a beautiful work in progress that can be altered and expanded, or further condensed depending on the mood desired. The beauty of the work lies in its intimacy and the infinite simplicity of its line and the artist’s experience in rendering it. In several ways, it reminds me of a series of "Blind Drawings" Robert Morris did with just printer's ink and his fingertips on white paper while blindfolded. Drawing in general is as close as any artist can become direct and intimate with the chosen surface without the distance imposed by say, a paintbrush. We too can witness and feel Maura's hand in these drawings. We are grateful to have never been bored by our journey at sea with her. View image




moi j’aime chanter toutes les nuits en vrai Baby Carni Bird. Monocorde dans ma nuit d’hiver en vrai Carni Bird.
Jean-Louis Murat

Nebraska (Western Meadowlark)

"State Birds" comprises the second part of the NATURAMA exhibit. Maura writes: “the series documents birds that are linked to the states that they inhabit. The only true identity of the bird is seen in the bird's outline, which is done in china marker. The birds take on a feminine side, with the flirtatious colors and play of the paint and glitter, atop of a very masculine 'business suit' raw linen background.”

The series of seven State Bird paintings, representing such diverse states as Arkansas to Connecticut, are some of the freshest and most exciting contemporary painting I’ve seen in awhile. Their smaller 12” x 12” format works perfectly with the very cartoon-esque child like rendering of the bird, its contour filled in with a myriad of colorful clashing thick impasto brushstrokes. The birds are very jewel like in appearance, basking in the gallery’s artificial lighting, their glittery surfaces and bright colors “sing” against the rather bland raw surface of the unpainted canvas that supports them. The contrast is striking and convincing. Maura has once again captured the essence of the subject she is depicting. Each bird’s characteristic feathering and/or distinctive markings have been rendered into a gestalt of color field and abstract painting. Their beauty and uniqueness has remained intact.

Alabama (Yellowhammer)

Much like the “At Sea” drawing, Maura has broken up the interior surface area of each bird painting into what are now, intersecting blocks of patchwork quilt color and texture. They are rich and complex paintings, their flattened Egyptian perspective and abstract rendering intrigues the viewer’s sensibilities as we look for clues to the nature of their beginnings or for that matter, their respective homes. They can also be quite tongue-in-cheek.

Arkansas (Mockingbird)

The State Bird from Arkansas is the Mockingbird. And mock she does Maura, but it’s all in good fun. You still have to know your art history a bit to get the joke, and not being one to spoil it, all I will say is that it is one of the late great Pop artists of the 60’s – and before you yell out Warhol, it’s not him. I can only imagine what a Warhol Mockingbird would look like…

D.C. (Wood Thrush)





Nevada (Mountain Bluebird)

Maura Vazakas is an excellent painter. She understands painting and what it means to an artist who paints and the spectator who looks. Her rich vocabulary of imagery is always fresh and compelling, simple and elegant, direct, and infused with enough magic to embody her vision into one clear and resounding voice. Don’t miss the opportunity to see the show; I promise you, you won’t be disappointed. Through December 3rd, 2006

Kevin Freitas


ART Produce Gallery
3139 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92104
619.584.4448 phone
619.584.4478 fax
lynn@artproducegallery.com




Also through November 30th at the Art of Framing, other works by Maura Vazakas, Brad Streeper, Bruno Lavelle, Hervé Crespel, Joey Burns, Michael Arata, Poor Al, Régent Pellerin, Richard Gleaves and Tom Torluemke.

The Art of Framing
3333 Adams Avenue
San Diego, CA. 92116
619.563.9770