Max Halperen

Meaning and Methods

The News and Observer

December 14, 2001

A glance through any current art journal reveals the enormously disparate ways in which the boundaries of art are being stretched and the enormous catholicity of taste one must possess to understand what artists are up to.

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Every now and then the Triangle gets a glimpse of the new avenues opening, as we did last spring when Raleigh's Contemporary Art Museum fielded an international show, and as we often do when the N.C. Museum of Art presents its triennial show of North Carolina work.

It is almost ironic, that of the 60 pieces in the annual juried show of the Durham Art Guild, the most imaginative, the most skillful and the most satisfying work is also, in many ways, the most traditional….Andrea Gomez's "Study #2 for 'One Full Day in the Garden of Eden'" is a fascinating work in progress. Sketches and studies for a triptych have been around her studio for some time, but with the events of Sept. 11 the Raleigh artist found it necessary to change the last panel. It now presses pure pigments -- black, gray, red -- against what appears to be a remnant of the World Trade Center. Given Gomez's painterly qualities, I would be most surprised if the final triptych were anything short of dazzling.

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Info:

What: 47th Annual Juried Show.

Where: Durham Arts Guild, 120 Morris St.

When: Through Jan. 3. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun., 1-6 p.m.

Call: 560-2713.