Allison Gildersleeve, Anne C. Weary and David Collins
Valley House Gallery has embraced the forests this month with the works of Allison Gildersleeve and Anne C. Weary. Meanwhile across town, the gallery has a show by their artist David Collins at the Jesuit Dallas Museum. His works are more geometric and architectural in nature. I was fortunate enough to get a preview of both shows and now that these works are about to come down, I think it is time to put them into the light of commentary.
Allison Gildersleeve’s forests are abstract, chaotic, and expressionistic. I was a little disoriented by the paintings at first, but taking a walk in the forest near my home brought this body of work come flooding back to me. I was struck by how the movement of lines and forms in the paintings were a fair description of the wild chaos of the forest. Gildersleeve allows the image to tangle and grow all over the canvas. Colors are exaggerated or invented like a more reserved version of a Fauvist artist. I can imagine that Henri Matisse must be an influence on her art. The more you look at these works, the more they grow on you and make you want to move in to see the details. Emotions of the colors and shapes ooze on the surface. I felt anxious at first, but I found a sense of calm that seems to contradict the image. I think Gildersleeve’s works unquestionably evoke an emotional response.
Anne C. Weary is a straight up realist rending of nature. Hers is more picturesque and subtle. The drawings are well executed and skillfully produced. Weary is interested in control and narrative. I see Weary interested in the craft of drawing as key to her message. She understands that the expert execution of an image is still a valuable asset.
David Collins is a favorite of mine from Valley House Gallery. I am glad his work got an extended show at the Jesuit Dallas Museum. The gallery had his work up about a month ago and that work has traveled to the museum. The geometric forms seem to be dropped on the canvas and recorded from a birds-eye view. Earlier work felt built up architecturally, but this perspective has shifted his images significantly. Now there is a stacking effect that occurs which allows things to appear to float without any scaffolding to hold it up. The depth of space has also shifted from his use of perspective to overlapping and some trompe l’oeil rendering of folded paper. However, these moves still felt connected to his past work in color and shapes. This body of work shows that Collins is able to have incredible growth in his work without burning bridges with the past’s hard-fought lessons. Though a noticeable shift has occurred, Collins remains loyal to his craft.
Anne C. Weary and Allison Gildersleeve come down this weekend at Valley House Gallery. David Collins also comes down this weekend at the Jesuit Dallas Museum. Interesting to know, Collins graduated from Jesuit in 1984.
