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October 20, 2006
Chatham County: Schwoerke and Handler
by Doug Stuber
Two distinctly different Chatham County artists have reached pinnacles that vault their work past tidy craftsmen status and into the local, if not regional lexicon.: Konrad Schwoerke. who has his first solo show up at Side Street Gallery in Pittsboro through the middle of November; and Murry Handler, who moved here after a stellar career in graphic arts in New York City.
Schwoerke mixes metaphors, techniques, and material to make crisp stainless steel sculptures that work as conceptual art when you discover the meanings behind his titles, and straight-up as contemporary sculptures that fit the post George Rickey eye. Even though Konrad had not acquainted himself with the late sculptor, or any other modern masters, before turning to sculpture, and these sculptures will penetrate your memory long after you see them. "Metal is something I like to piddle with, until it turned into a type of therapy because it became so all-consuming that the rest of life's hassles disappeared. I can't imagine doing anything else," Schwoerke said while standing in a room surrounded by his functional fountain, gate, freestanding, and well-assembled pedestal pieces. He works strictly with found and recycled material, but the end product is head-and-shoulders above the typical yard art that turns rakes and shovels into figurative whimsy. In "Bureaucrazy" a red flag red flags at least five do-dads that imitate the workings of modern governments (a shovel to push mountains of lies, dead weights, seemingly functional pulleys, foot-pedals and chains that actually never get anything done).

The humor of this piece is one thing, the actual three dimensional lines are another. On this score, there may be better works in this group, such as "Perpetual Emotion Machine," that is animated by a spiral core, head-like front and four legs. The interior spiral is mimicked by graceful outer tubes that twist forward, leaving the impression that the gizmo could forever pound away (emotionally or mechanically) once started.

For a self-taught artist, Schwoerke has a good eye for how sculptures are "supposed" to look, and occasionally he finds material that helps him go beyond previous norms and into a realm that far exceeds his experience in the field.
Just look at "Urban Door Knocker," it has all the panache of small David Smith, while retaining both humor (it's a fancy battering ram) and conceptual facets. Schwoerke catered his opening in style, and one hopes art lovers make the trek to Sidestreet Gallery in Pittsboro, because this is big time art, popping out for a debut.

Schwoerke reports that it took him five years to find the parts to create "Brainwashing" a complex series of fixtures that all lead to water spouts, intertwined in ways that make a relaxing fountain (if you keep your eyes closed and just listen) and a nerve-wracking miasma of metal if you look at it too long.
Still, there are hidden gems, like a small glass laboratory jar, and a place where two streams continually collide in mid-air (oh la la). Anyone with the persistence to hunt down these metal parts, then dream up how to effectively use them, then assemble the sculptures flawlessly is worth seeing. In this case, Schwoerke could have probably debuted at the New York Sculpture Center, but we'll leave it to him to try to figure out how to score that show. Here are two views of Brainwashing to entice you to spend fossil fuels to see the show:

While at Sidestreet, you can see some prints by Murry Handler, but it's the new-fangled five-canvass, sliding art that caught my eye at Handler's new studio in Fearrington Village. These works will be "on view starting November 17th at Glance," Handler quips, as we talk about his all-consuming desire to capture artistic moments in efficient brush strokes that are graphic and emotional at the same time. Handler grew up in Maine, then formed his own graphic arts company in New York City, while always stealing time to make fine art. He studied at both the Franklin Institute and Pratt and has had excellent gallery representation, and numerous juried awards in New York and North Carolina. Although his minimal take on fine art can be hard for some to get a grasp of, when he spices up his lines with emotionality, the paintings "come out."

They "come out" way better than these photographs (by yours truly) and add the conversation-starter of being movable. Sliding panels allow the canvasses to move horizontally, inspiring unlimited interpretations by the viewers/owners.
"It's nice when art can interface with the public, and vice versa," Handler said.
Adept at both washes and extremely tight graphics, Handler sometimes mixes the two in his abstractions.

In Full Moon, just a touch of low-horizon line graphics turn a standard wash into a landscape with depth. He's been around canvasses enough to make strong work at 18 by 24 inches and 10 x 12 feet as well.
Since, except for a handful of pesky developers, Chatham County remains fairly close knit, sure enough Michael Mosca has been the carpenter behind some of Handler's larger canvasses. Mosca, who paints, directs Sidestreet Gallery and runs art classes for almost all age groups, squeezes in canvass stretching for local artists who have unusual needs, and want solid stretcher bars the are virtually unwarpable up to 20 feet in length.
"Horizon" is my favorite of Handler's recent work. The complexity of the wash helps distort proportions so you can't tell whether you are looking at a wall, seascape, desert or painting.. Again Handler uses simplicity to elicit a variety of interpretations.

Lastly, "Arbor in Quintile." if it weren't for its slideability, would be forcing the issue of trees in a very deep but sparse forest.

 

Yet, when the panels are in rectangle, and the trees are chopped up, a post-Mondrian abstraction results. Okay, post-Mondrian with all the color of Motherwell, but still, here, even a painting with subject matter can be slid into something else with these inventions that, in the hands of an amateur, might well be gimmicky contraptions. I love mature artists who take a chance. Bravo Murry.