VERA BARNETTClassical Plastique

The wit of this woman is the triumph of an art altogether plastic

Balzac

above:Self Portrait 2010 oil on canvas 48 x 36 inches

front cover:Classical Plastique: Frugal Repast 2006 oil on canvas 44 x 36 inches Inspired by Pablo Picasso’s “The Frugal Repast”Collection of Eric and Debbie Green

back cover:Classical Plastique: Wayfarer 2010 oil on canvas 48 x 48 inches Inspired by Hieronymous Bosch’s “The Wayfarer”Collection of John Stone

ISBN: 978-1-879154-26-1Copyright: 2010, All rights reservedValley House Gallery Inc. Dallas, Texaswww.valleyhouse.com

VERA BARNETTClassical Plastique

Essay by

Frederick Turner

VALLEY HOUSE GALLERY&

Sculpture GardenDallas, Texas

2010

4

The Fabrications of Vera Barnett: an Appreciation

era Barnett works with layer upon layer of representation. Consider the aesthetic value of a classical still life, its craft, its trompe l’oeil, its faithful and devoted meditation on the thinginess of things, the amazing detail by which the eye takes in the world. Her major series of paintings, her “classical plastiques,” is, in an initial definition, a collection of still-lifes. As such they are masterfully done, as one might expect from a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. This is an artist who knows how to draw, who understands shadow and modeling and color. The subjects spring into three-dimensional life, her backgrounds—usually fabric or wallpaper backdrops--as meticulously recorded as the subjects themselves, insist on their flatness and texture as the light falls across them, making the modeled subjects stand out the more.

But this is only the first of a series of representational “Chinese boxes” that Barnett has so ingeniously constructed for us. For the subjects of these still-lifes are not natural objects like fruit or flowers, or everyday practical made objects like bottles or tools. They are themselves works of art, representations, apparently blow-up plastic figures, like inflatable pool toys or sex dolls—but works of art of the most cheap, garish and commercial kind. A Whitney Biennial show might feature such dolls as real sculptures in some kind of installation or happening, with an implied satirical social comment on consumerism, gender objectification, economic inflation, the machine age, the emptiness of modern life, psychological inauthenticity or ecological destructiveness.

But these dolls affect us very differently, have meanings more profound and more original than those now-familiar postmodern tropes. To begin with, they have been painted with such loving classical attention that their cheap materials and tight or flaccid artificiality take on a kind of pathos, are ennobled by the attention they have been given. Their shapes come from the pressure of the air inside them,

V

the tension of their vinyl materials against the crude welded seams, and the fall and reflection of the light across their shiny surface—their ingredients are air, stored pneumatic energy, and light. Something has been made out of virtually nothing—the reverse of the deconstructive techniques and tropes by which the somethings of the world are reduced to nothing. So these works are not just still-lifes but sculptures, and not just sculptures but installations, even happenings caught at a crucial moment.

But she is not cool, ironic, hip: her work is not inflated in that sense. Something in her work, a sort of sincerity, is reminiscent of the great primitive artist Henry

Darger, who made a whole world out of tracings on butcher paper. There is about these figures the tender, comic oddness of well-used homemade children’s toys. The female figure in her Making Friends is actually snipping off the last length of woolen “hair” that she is sewing onto the crude cloth doll that lies in her lap like a baby Jesus in a nativity scene or a dead Jesus in a Deposition. So the fabricated doll is the artist herself, fabricating a doll. Barnett is recalling the moment when her own child went away to college and cut the apron-strings, that which was fabricated in her own body now taking on independent life.

Making Friends 2000 o/c 38 x 32 inches Private Collection

6

Many of her works deal with the moment of being lost or losing one’s home. The naked homeless woman in Bag Lady has only cardboard boxes (that once were the packaging of an artificial Christmas tree) and newspaper comics between her and the hard floor. Vera Barnett’s husband Jack, a very fine classical artist in his own right, once her teacher at the Academy, sometimes appears with her in paintings that, with witty ruefulness, describe the state of being lost together, two plastic dolls in the same cardboard boat, vulnerable and so very easily damaged and deflated. They are sad clowns, painted pierrots.

For one of the most remarkable things about these figures is that they are, oddly, so full of human feeling. Their faces are so expressive, so full of trepidation, resignation, bemused happiness, anxiety, affection, woe. The eyes are especially striking, with their innocent and meditative gaze—almost never directly out of the picture into the viewer’s eyes, but always inward into the drama of the scene itself or into their own thoughts. The postures of these dolls have a curious life

and energy: they capture us as do the polychrome figures of popular religious art, Catholic, Hindu, traditional Buddhist. But unlike the gods these beings are subject to time. The smoothness of the vinyl may belie the wrinkles of the aging human skin: but the fragility of the material, which cannot heal itself and takes its form from its inner breath, makes the threat of death more imminent still.

Bag Lady 1997 o/c 39 x 50 inches Private Collection

Ship of Fools 2005 o/c 40 x 50 inches Collection of Donna Wilhelm and John Gunn

But her metaphysics is not one in which the spirit can easily shuck off the body and cleanse itself of materiality. Without that membrane of the human body with all its fragility and tension, the breath has no form. She catches the great pathos of human life, the way that childbirth reminds

the anxious husband and father-to-be of his wife’s fleshliness, her mortality; the way lovers are humbled by the recognition of their animality, their physicality.

And of course the poses in these paintings, and their mise-en-sce`ne, are strangely and immediately recognizable. They are from the Old Masters, the great French primitive painters, popular or folk American artists--Bruegel, Botticelli, Bosch, Manet, Douanier Rousseau, Gauguin, Chagall, Grant Wood, Wyeth. With her explicit allusiveness, Barnett is pushing us into another level of representational self-reference. The Bruegel Blind Leading the Blind that she references in Rose Colored Glasses was itself already a representation in oils of the old emblem in the emblem-books, which in turn represented in woodcut form the parable of Jesus, itself a metaphorical representation of a common human error. She has made peace in modernism’s long war with tradition, but in a way that opens up new artistic possibilities. So instead of rejecting or satirizing the great tradition of Western art, which so many modernist and postmodernist artists have felt obliged to do, she has felt her way back through her layers of representation (or reproduction) to the living human heart that the old masters knew.

There is a phase in the process of making her paintings that is not visible in the finished work, like underdrawing, but not accessible by any x-ray imaging system. The maquettes or mannequins Barnett uses are not in fact welded, airtight, and inflated, but sewn and stuffed. Her painting Making Friends obliquely confesses this little deception: it depicts a sewn and stuffed doll being fabricated by an inflated vinyl mother. In physical reality the mannequins are just fragile scraps of spray-painted thin-gauge industrial vinyl and synthetic stuffing stitched, not welded, together: often very rough, unfinished on the side away from the painter/viewer (for these paintings make the artist a viewer and the viewer/critic an artist).

Rose Colored Glasses 2009 o/c 35 x 46 inches

8

They definitely look stuffed, not blown up. Their inflatedness is itself the artist’s visual invention. She has often created fictional welds where there are no sewed seams at all, complete with the appropriate gatherings and bulges, using the wrinkles to suggest the expressions of the figures. So it is the painting that blows them up, gives them life.

For Barnett, life is a sort of miraculous inflation of matter—literally an “inspiration”, an inspiring, an inbreathing. She began the series inspired by an inflatable pool toy that is literally blown up with human breath. The Greek word for “spirit “ is “pneuma”, from which we get “pneumatic.” Life’s vulnerability is suggested by the fact that a mere puncture will annul it. The artist gives life to the painting as the pregnant or nursing mother gives breath to her child. Fabrication—making—is not distinct from reproduction. The work of making and sewing fabrics has anciently been associated with the work of a woman’s womb and with the hereditary continuity of the family: think of the way that traditional quilting celebrates the bed of birth, marriage, and death.

And here we come to what I believe is Barnett’s breathtaking—or rather breathgiving—reply to all the modernist and postmodernist critics of reproduction. Her paintings are not just reproductions, but reproductions of reproductions of reproductions, like humans and animals and plants, or like the repeats in the wallpaper or cloth print patterns she uses as backdrops (themselves minutely and lovingly recorded). To make clear her rejection of the distinction between the real and the representational or reproduced, she often introduces plainly artificial iconographic details, such as scraps of paper with printed images, or real clothing or shoes or bedclothes, as collage elements in the midst of the explicitly painted and fictional scene. She loves to paint cardboard, which is artificial inflated wood. In her version of

The Dream 2007 o/c 52 x 62 inches Collection of John Stone

Rousseau’s La Rêve (The Dream) she replaces Rousseau’s purely fanciful vegetation with real living leaves and flowers, exquisitely rendered. She uses her formidable skill at trompe-l’oeil to play with collage, painted collage, collaged painting, real objects used as props, painted real objects and painted painted objects.

This mixing of the real and the imagined and the reproductive is, actually, love. In the immortal words of Nat King Cole:

Say it`s only a paper moon sailing over a cardboard sea but it wouldn`t be make-believe if you believed in me Yes it`s only a canvas sky hanging over a muslin tree but it wouldn`t be make-believe if you believed in me

Without your love it`s a honky tonk parade Without your love it`s a melody played in a penny arcade…It`s a Barnum and Bailey world just as phony as it can be but it wouldn`t be make-believe if you believed in me.

Barnett’s characters—for the collection as a whole is a sort of drama based on her life—are often lost in this life, aging, far from home. But they have decided to believe in it and love it, and pay it the attention it deserves with art.

Frederick Turner

Classical Plastique: Olympia 1993 oil on canvas 48 x 67 inches Inspired by Edouard Manet’s “Olympia”Collection of John Stone

10

Classical Plastique: Adam and Eve 1994 oil on canvas 65 x 48 inches Inspired by Masaccio’s “The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden”Private Collection

12

I have been working for several years on a group of oil paintings that explore classical themes in art. I am drawn to art that explores the emotional relationships between people, their environment and circumstances that they find themselves in. I wish to reconstruct these ideas through my own vision, my life and experiences. These “classic” themes are chosen because they are timeless in nature, explore emotions that are universal and cross the boundaries of time and distance. I reinterpret these themes using plastic “inflatable” people.

Classical Plastique: Gothic 1995 oil on canvas 34 1/2 x 28 inches Inspired by Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”Collection of Diane and A.C. Cook

14

I am drawn to images that can represent dual interpretations and reactions. Plastic has the qualities of a false sense of perfection; smooth, flawless and with the illusion of permanence. This is juxtaposed against the reality of wrinkles and vulnerability.

I find the visual and emotional qualities of bodies filled with nothing but air an interesting subject, reflecting the transient qualities of our real flesh and blood bodies. In all my work, whether depicting inflatable dolls, scraps of paper, “real” people or more traditional still life elements, I am drawn to the issues of dual meaning: the balance of innocence and worldliness, fear and humor, permanence and the temporary.

Classical Plastique: Crucifix 1998 oil on canvas 58 x 50 inches Inspired by Matthais Grünewald’s “The Crucifixion”Collection of Kirk Hopper

16

I design and construct the figures myself using plastic vinyl and spray paint. They are constructed to appear as if inflated; in reality they are sewn and stuffed.

Classical Plastique: Ship of Fools 2005 oil on canvas 40 x 50 inches Inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s “Ship of Fools”Collection of Donna Wilhelm and John Gunn

18

I have chosen to work with what appear to be inflated dolls because to me they adequately symbolize the human condition and encompass a range of emotions. Humor plays a part in my visual language, as it does in my view of the human condition.

Classical Plastique: Frugal Repast 2006 oil on canvas 44 x 36 inches Inspired by Pablo Picasso’s “The Frugal Repast”Collection of Eric and Debbie Green

20

Classical Plastique: The Birth of Venus 2006 oil on canvas 66 x 130 inches (triptych)Inspired by Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”Collection of Donna Wilhelm and John Gunn

22

Classical Plastique: The Dream 2007 oil on canvas 52 x 62 inches Inspired by Henri Rousseau’s “The Dream”Collection of John Stone

24

Classical Plastique: The Artist and His Dog 2008 oil on canvas 30 x 40 inches Inspired by Otto Dix’s “The Photographer Hugo Erfurth with his Dog Ajax”

26

Classical Plastique: Puberty #2 2008 oil on canvas 48 x 36 inches Inspired By Edvard Munch’s “Puberty”

28

Study for Classical Plastique: The Dancers 2008 oil on ragboard 7 7/8 x 4 7/8 inches

Classical Plastique: The Dancers 2008 oil on canvas 57 x 42 1/2 inchesInspired by Marc Chagall’s “The Birthday Kiss”

30

Study for Classical Plastique: Girl in a Field 2008 oil on paper 4 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches

Classical Plastique: Girl in a Field 2008 oil on canvas 46 x 62 inches Inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s “Christina’s World”

32

Study for Classical Plastique: Girl in Red Dress 2009 oil on canvas paper 9 1/4 x 7 inches

Classical Plastique: Girl in Red Dress 2009 oil on canvas 32 x 30 inchesInspired by Henri Rousseau’s “The Girl with a Doll”

34

Classical Plastique: Two Women 2009 oil on canvas 34 x 32 inches Inspired by Pablo Picasso’s “Weeping Woman”

36

Classical Plastique: Reflection 2009 oil on canvas 32 x 38 inches Inspired by Balthus’ “The Turkish Room”

38

Study for Classical Plastique: Woman with Flowers 2008 oil on paper 6 x 8 inches

Classical Plastique: Woman with Flowers 2009 oil on canvas 32 x 38 inches Inspired by Edgar Degas’ “Woman with Chrysanthemums”Collection of John Stone

40

Classical Plastique: Rose Colored Glasses 2009 oil on canvas 35 x 46 inches Inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s “The Blind Leading the Blind”

42

Study for Classical Plastique: Three Ages of Woman 2009 oil on canvas paper 10 1/8 x 6 inches

Classical Plastique: Three Ages of Woman 2009 oil on canvas 48 x 36 inches Inspired by Gustav Klimt’s “Three Ages of Woman”

44

Study for Classical Plastique: Woman with Plant 2010 oil on paper 7 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches

Classical Plastique: Old Lady with Plant 2010 oil on canvas 27 x 20 inches Inspired by Grant Wood’s “Woman with Plants”

46

Study for Classical Plastique: Spirit Watching 2010 oil on paper 6 1/4 x 9 inches

Classical Plastique: Spirit Watching 2010 oil on canvas 38 x 52 inches Inspired by Paul Gauguin’s “Spirit of the Dead Watching (Manao Tupapau)”

48

Study for Classical Plastique: Portrait of Lady with Pink Dress 2010 oil on ragboard 9 11/16 x 5 inches

Classical Plastique: Portrait of Lady with Pink Dress 2010 oil on canvas 48 x 24 inches Inspired by Ammi Phillips’ “Portrait of Harriet Leavens”

50

Study for Classical Plastique: Wayfarer 2010 oil on gessoed rag board (grisaille) 8 x 8 inches

Study for Classical Plastique: Wayfarer 2010 oil on gessoed rag board 8 x 7 7/8 inches

Classical Plastique: Wayfarer 2010 oil on canvas 48 x 48 inches Inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Wayfarer”Collection of John Stone

52

Vera Barnett

Born: 1957, Nyack, New York

Education:

1977-81 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Solo Exhibitions:

1991 Barnett by Two, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, Texas1993 Vera Barnett, Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania1994 Process and Transition, Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth, Texas1997 Vera Barnett, Carol Henderson Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas2002 Vera Barnett: Recent Work, Edith Baker Gallery, Dallas, Texas2006 Vera Barnett: Classical Plastique, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas2010 Vera Barnett: Classical Plastique, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas

Group Exhibitions:

1987 Great Works Large and Small, Evelyn Siegel Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas 1987 A Breath of Fresh Air, The Fanny Garver Gallery, Madison, Wisconsin 1988 New Work, Evelyn Siegel Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas1988 Holiday Season, Evelyn Siegel Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas1989 Gallery Night, Evelyn Siegel Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas1989 Miniatures, The Fanny Garver Gallery, Madison, Wisconsin1989 9th Annual Small Works Show, Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1990 10th Annual Small Works Show, Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania1992 Christmas, Fort Worth Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas1993 Gallery Night, Dutch Phillips & Co., Dallas, Texas 1996 Three Texas Realists, Breckenridge Art Center, Breckenridge, Texas1998 The Figure, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas1999 Masquerade, Edith Baker Gallery, Dallas, Texas1999 Real Art, Contemporary Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas1999 Contemporary Realism, Carol Henderson Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas 2000 A Cool Summer Garden, Edith Baker Gallery, Dallas, Texas2004 The Mentor and his Proteges, Tarrant County College, Carillon Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas2005 Valley House Exhibition, Masur Museum, Monroe, Louisiana2006 Art International, The Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, California (Valley House Gallery)2006 Kingdom Animalia, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas2007 Texas Art from Private Collections: Works by Past and Present Masters, Kettle Art, Dallas, Texas2007 The Art Show, ADAA art fair, Park Avenue Armory, New York, New York (Valley House Gallery)2007 CADD, Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas Inaugural Art Fair, Three Three Three First Avenue, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)2007 Introductions North, Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton, Texas2008 CADD, Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas Art Fair, Three Three Three First Avenue, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)2009 Thank You Fort Worth: An Appreciation from Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden, Fort Worth Community Arts

Center, Fort Worth, Texas

54

2009 Dallas Art Fair, FIG Building, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)2010 Dallas Art Fair, FIG Building, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)2010 ART CHICAGO, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, Illinois (Valley House Gallery)2010 Shorelines, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas

Juried Exhibitions:

1986 123rd Annual Exhibition of Small Paintings, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Jurors: Jack Bookbinder, Andre Salz, Stuart Shils)1988 48th Annual Juried Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Jurors: Carol Wald and Walter S. Erlebacher)1990 National Juried Competition, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, Texas (Juror: Henry Whiddon)1990 12th Annual Competition, Fort Worth Community Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas (Juror: John A. Calabrese)1992 Annual Juried Exhibition, Templeton Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas 1994 14th Annual National Juried Exhibition, Delaware County Community College, Media, Pennsylvania1995 97th Annual Juried Exhibition of the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The American College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (Jurors: Jack Cowart and Gregory Gillespie)1996 Art in the Metroplex, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas (Juror: Luis Jimenez)1996 98th Annual Juried Exhibition of the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, West Chester University, McKinney Gallery, Pennsylvania (Juror: Charles W. Millard III)1996 Spring Group Show, Templeton Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas (Juror: Wade Wilson)1998 Main Street Art Festival, The Contemporary Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas, (Juror: Vernon Fisher)1998 500X Gallery, Dallas, Texas (Juror: Ted Pillsbury)2000 National Competition, First Street Gallery, New York, New York (Juror: William Beckman)2002 Enter the Dragon, Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, Breckenridge, Texas (Juror: Ross Merrill)2003 American Figure Exhibition, Santa Cruz Art League, Santa Cruz, California2003 Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, Breckenridge, Texas (Juror: Ramon Kelley)2004 Celebrates Texas Art, Assistance League of Houston, Houston, Texas (Juror: Jennifer Gross) 2004 47th Annual Delta Exhibition, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas (Juror: Katherine Degn)2007 Annual Assistance League of Houston Juried Exhibition, Houston, Texas2008 The Hunting Art Prize Gala, Decorative Art Center, Houston, Texas2009 Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art 2009, Williams Tower Gallery, Houston, Texas (Juror: Shelley Langdale, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, Philadelphia Museum of Art)

Awards:

1988 Honorable Mention, National Juried Exhibition, Society of Water Color Artists, Fort Worth, Texas1990 Jurors Citation, Annual Juried Exhibition, Committee for an Artists Center, Fort Worth, Texas1991 Mary Butler Memorial Purchase Award, Fellowship Annual Juried Exhibition, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts1992 Second Place Award, Annual Juried Exhibition, Templeton Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas1996 First Place Award, Annual Juried Exhibition, Templeton Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas (Juror: Chris Goebel)1996 Fourth Place Award, Spring Show, Templeton Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas (Juror: Wade Wilson)1996 Third place & Honorable Mention, National Juried Exhibition, Breckenridge Art Center, Breckenridge, Texas (Juror: Joan Marron-LaRue)2003 Honorable Mention, American Figure Exhibition, Santa Cruz Art League, Santa Cruz, California2004 First Place, Assistance League of Houston, Houston, Texas (Juror: Jennifer Gross)2009 First Place, Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art 2009, Williams Tower Gallery, Houston, Texas (Juror: Shelley Langdale)

Literature:

1988 “A Really Pretty Picture,” Janet Tyson, Fort Worth Star Telegram1990 “Water Color Exhibit No Brush With Tame,” Janet Tyson, Fort Worth Star Telegram, March 21, Section 5, page 41991 “Discretion and a Spousal Exhibition,” Janet Tyson, Fort Worth Star Telegram, May 6, Section E, page 21992 “Schools Out in Fort Worth,” Janet Tyson, Fort Worth Star Telegram, October 71993 “Fine Arts Academy Exhibition Opens,” Victoria Donohoe, The Philadelphia Enquirer1994 “Artists Show Us Their Paintings,” Wade Wilson, Fort Worth Star Telegram, November 27, Section F, page 21996 “Night & Day,” Zac Crain, The Dallas Observer1996 Exhibition catalogue, 1996 Art Competition, Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, reproduction.1997 “Fort Worth Festival Takes an Earnest Approach to its Art,” Annabelle Massey, The Met1997 “Eerie Pool Party,” Annabelle Massey, The Met, October 29, page 30, reproduction1998 “Go Figure,” Mike Daniels, The Dallas Morning News, Guide, August 28, page 531998 “Two Experts Pick Pieces for Big Dallas Show,” Suzanne Akhtar, Fort Worth Star Telegram, January 25, Section G, page 21999 “Realism,” Curtis Martin, Artlies, Summer issue, page 47, Crucifixion illustrated1999 “The Contemporary Gets Real,” Janet Tyson, Fort Worth Star Telegram1999 “Reality Check,” Mike Daniels, The Dallas Morning News, Guide, June 18, page 532001 “Vera Barnett, Frank Brown,” Mike Daniels, The Dallas Morning News, Guide, December 21, page 52, reproduction2006 “Night & Day,” The Dallas Observer, December 7 – 13, 2006, page 31, Kung-Fu Fighting reproduced2010 Moulin Review Literary Journal, Brookhaven College, Volume 2, Spring 2010, reproductions

56

Printed by Jayroe Litho Inc. Dallas, TexasCatalogue Design: Kevin VogelPhotographs by: Vera Barnett, Tom Jenkins, Scott Metcalfe, Abigail Richbourg, Kevin Vogel, and David Wharton