By Jim Duncan CVFDude@aol.com
Thou Art:
The Best of 2006
 Art
Pimp’s annual year in review
DMAC’s Big Year
While museums across the country
struggled to bring people through
their doors, the Des Moines Art
Center hosted a string of successes
while introducing major talents
to the American museum scene.
With neither household names nor
blockbuster shows, DMAC’s Jeff
Fleming succeeded by scouting
the world for extraordinary emerging
artists: “Cecily Brown” drew enthusiastic
crowds from long distances, particularly
of other painters who gushed over
the Brit’s lush linens and canvasses;
Alec Soth is an old fashioned,
subject-is-object photographer
with a sharp eye for irony. Audiences
responded to the narrative, musical
nature of his “Sleeping by the
Mississippi;” “Iowa Artists 2006:
There’s No Place Like Home” introduced
several new talents to Central
Iowa, most notably Noah Doely
of Waverly; “Aisle 5” (currently
running) opened to the largest
weekend crowds in DMAC history.
It introduced a major young talent
— Shih-Chieh “C.J.” Huang — whose
energetic installations are attracting
more interest than those of more
famous older artists in the show.
The New Regionalism
Since Grant Wood’s heyday, “regionalism”
has been defined statically with
Great Depression clichés
like the one that “back to the
earth” means forsaking modern
technology. In two shows this
year at Karolyn Sherwood Gallery,
Bill Luchsinger and Karen Strohbeen
did to that idea what Ferran Adria
has done to haute cuisine — they
used the latest technology not
to simulate, but to extract the
purity of basic root-stocks. Through
context, these digital pioneers
produced a new appreciation of
the humble essences of the regional
landscape, painstakingly photographing
subjects (that the artists’ grew
from seeds) from multiple points
of view. Laid together seamlessly,
they created an intensity so detailed
it also redefined the surreal
experience — you must be dreaming
because such sharp vision is not
possible to wakeful sensibilities.
Iowa Architecture
Rediscovers People
Recently, Iowa public architecture
has been driven by the un-Iowan
ethos of economic apartheid —
Wells Fargo Arena segregated people
with luxury levels, valet stations,
private suites, etc.; and at Hilton
Coliseum and Cyclone Stadium,
“updating” was code for the same
thing. So Herbert Lewis Kruse
Blunck’s design for the University
of Northern Iowa’s McLeod Center
made a daringly democratic statement
— with one level of seating and
a “donor’s” concourse that does
not force others to look down
in shame. The building’s day-to-night
windows and skywalk to the UNI
Dome further connected it to the
community and to Iowa populism.
For all its flaws, David Chipperfield’s
Des Moines Central Library succeeded
in drawing more people into its
“airplane logo footprint.”
Grass Roots Green
Painter Christine Mullane emerged
as queen butterfly of the grass
roots art scene when her Art Dive
gallery celebrated a fifth anniversary
at its fifth address, “give or
take a lease or two.” Mullane
has allowed numerous artists to
test their wings while energizing
the scene by force of personality.
Lee Ann Conlan graduated from
emerging status after selling
out a show at Mullane’s this year.
Frank Hanson has outgrown the
grass roots scene too, but try
telling the fans who turned out
in droves at Moberg Gallery for
the artists’ exhibition, as well
as for the premiere of the film
“The World According to Frank,”
on which some PBS producer ought
to jump. The talented group “Jane
365” held their second annual
show this month at the Fitch,
which also hosted “Adrift,” where
the likes of Jenn Dierdorf and
Tony Pontius showed new dimensions.
 Person
of the Year
The University of Iowa Museum
of Art’s “Jules Kirschenbaum:
The Need to Dream of Some Transcendent
Meaning” represented the late
Des Moines philosopher/painter
in a new light that reminded us
how much he influenced a generation
and a half of Iowa artists.
 Artist
of the Year
John Philip Davis
emerged as the consummate professional
among the younger generation of
Iowa artists. His giant abstractions
became a virtual civic brand this
year, as significant restaurants,
hospitals and corporations discovered
his earth tone palette, determined
work ethic and superior production
values.
Designer of the Year
Rob Whitehead, project architect
for the McLeod Center.
New Artist of the Year
Guy Loraine developed a meticulous
series of sculptures reflecting
on botany and modern agriculture
while painstakingly conforming
with “Fibonacci’s Golden Ratio,”
a botanical and actuarial numerology
of patterns. The result was a
study of contemporary agriculture
both mystic and frightfully portentous.
Best Gallery Exhibitions
(not already mentioned)
• Bill Barnes channels a
delicate point of view through
the wary eyes of black damsel
flies and the racing hearts of
birds. This year at Olson-Larsen,
his subjects dreamed less stressfully
and in more sustainable landscapes,
while indulging his first ever-political
statement.
• The inimitable Mary Kline-Misol
returned to the razor edge of
wonderland with her latest Victorian
obsession at From Our Hands Gallery.
“From the Faerie Queen Garden”
honored Richard Dadd, the creator,
in Kline-Misol’s words, of “the
most psychotic painting in history.”
• For decades, Des Moines
artists went to places like Kansas
City to find a market. So it was
most significant that Karolyn
Sherwood hosted a show of young
artists mostly from Kansas City.
“Poignant Perceptions from Afar”
starred Peregrine Honig’s delightfully
sick anxieties about marriage,
motherhood, drug addiction, restrictive
clothing and bad art. In the same
vein, Moberg introduced Kansas
City abstract painter Bev Gegen
last summer and half the show
sold out before it opened.
• Gary Komarin’s super hot
career included a stop at Karolyn
Sherwood last spring. His star
has ascended to the point that
he remains connected to Des Moines
out of loyalty and appreciation,
both are reciprocated.
• Jessie Fisher, the most
arresting Iowa talent in our memory,
returned to the state for an exhibition
at Coe College’s Marvin Cone Gallery
with macabre takes on high Renaissance
still lifes.
• Moberg’s Chris Vance exhibition
was the gallery’s most successful
show ever in terms of sales. The
popular artist keeps pushing his
envelop, this time adding wood
panels, disassembled installations
and sculptures to his repertoire.
• Olson-Larsen saved its
most imaginative shows for last
(currently running) this year:
“New Works” is by the fantastical
trio of Wendy Rolfe, Mary Koenen
Clausen and Michael Brangoccio;
Sarah Grant is also au current
at O-LG with new, more brilliant
abstractions.
• Wendell Mohr’s homage to
the railroad’s glory days at Moberg
showed the Iowa watercolorist
moving from “venerable presence”
to “living legend” status.
• “From Our Hands” debuted
Linda Lewis’ whimsical sculptures
of displaced, confused and psychotic
women alongside the sardonic eccentricities
of Sharon Nelson-Vaux.
• “Lee Ann” (Conlan) at
the Fitch covered death and sensuality
with invisible complexity. The
big piece in the show will redefine
the artist for a while — a medieval
scene in the Gothic Abbey of St.-Denis.
Best Alternative Space
“John Brommel at the Botanical
Center” brought the sculptor’s
cold blue steel to the most organic
of environments, making both look
better. CV
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