Bill Luchsinger and Karen Strohbeen are the godfather and earth mother of Iowa art. While prepping their new show at Karolyn Sherwood Gallery, Strohbeen reflected on how much has changed for artists since their first exhibition.

"When we started at Percival Gallery there weren't many artists in Des Moines and it wasn't a livelihood for anybody. Now there really is an art scene here, there are lots of galleries and we make our livings as artists, in Iowa. It's really pretty amazing," she says.

Probably the state's most popular artists, Luchsinger and Strohbeen never fell into the trap of just reproducing variations on a successful template. Instead, they continually experiment. Strohbeen even paid respect in the new show to Richard Kelley, with a series of triangles evoking the Des Moines master. The couple's new work is more collaborative than before and sometimes combines pure simplicity with inconceivable complexity. For instance, one series of single-line drawings (Strohbeen's signature methodology) of a rabbit evolves into an image spiked by repetitive, unrecognizable images of the hare, manipulated through fractal-based software by Luchsinger. He uses an offbeat painting discipline that is based on quantum mechanics and recognizes infinite possibilities. The result becomes a visual memory puzzle. So, too, is a Luchsinger series on poplar forests.

"They are planted for rapid growth, to supply the world with toilet paper," he says. That look into his subjects' destiny revealed some sardonic visual puns, and a squeezably soft appreciation for his sense of texture, created in part by deconstructing the trees' bark.

"Black and White Heads," a dazzling montage of Strohbeen drawings, is a time-lapse metamorphosis, from human to floral forms. "Dancing Scratches" seamlessly blends an African wrap skirt pattern with adobe scratches and a meadow of flowers. The couple collaborated on several reflections on lisianthus, from pure still life to deconstructions of bouquets fallen on the floor. The latter make the point of this show - that a quantum universe accommodates infinite error and whim. Strohbeen said her personal title for the exhibition was "Accidents and Scratches."

Pimp notes

The "Old Bags Luncheon" for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Des Moines brings a high-end silent auction to the Downtown Holiday Inn, Dec. 8. Designer purses, handbags and cases, some created for the event by local and national artists, raised over $60k at last year's sold-out event. Reservations ($125) are essential: 262-5695... Steve Gerberich's "Holiday Tree" will be displayed on the Waukee Triangle through New Year's. The nationally prominent mechanical artist has relocated from New York City and hinted to us about a major art development in downtown Des Moines... "Still Life w/PEACHES (and a little black boy atop a spotted pony)," at the Anderson Gallery until Dec. 9, is a thoughtful undertaking by Mitchell Squire. Complementing his brilliant bullet hole exhibition earlier this year, PEACHES uses funeral trappings and manipulated hair pieces to comment on racial assimilation and the passage of modes of thought... Absolute Art's Photography Show runs through Dec. 6 starring timeless Iowanna by Bob Bergazyn and graceful nudity by Jay and Marilyn Anderson... Eric Wickes & Michael Lane's "DaVinci Dress Code" runs through December at The Lift... Photography, the opening round of SMASH Gallery's high school art competition is on display. Each of four disciplines will be shown for three weeks. Then winners return for one-person shows. Deadlines: Drawing Jan. 4; Mixed Media Jan. 25. CV

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