A 'blue' period for local artists A 'blue' period for local artists (December 17, 2004)

Art school displays ruminations on the color blue

By Katie Vaughn

The assignment could have been one Anna Fankhauser gives to her students in the children's art class she teaches at the Community School of Music and Arts, but this time the artists she was directing were out of the ordinary.

Fankhauser, an active member in the art scene in her native Switzerland, asked nine mid-career Swiss artists she knew from Solothurn, Bern and Olten for works to display at CSMA's Mohr gallery. The instructions: create something based on the concept of blue.

The diverse and innovative results make up the "Blue" exhibition that runs now through Jan. 25.

Blue is an important element in Swiss life because it can be used to represent water, said Carina Baumann, a participating artist who now lives in Menlo Park.

"[Switzerland] has many lakes, numerous rivers and little wild streams as well as gorgeous cold glaciers and permanent snow-covered mountains," she said.

While the works in the exhibit range from paintings to photographs, postcard- to poster-size, meticulously detailed to vastly abstract, many incorporate the theme of water.

Bauman's three huge photo reproductions are an example. One seems to involve a bathtub rubber ducky, but all three are severely abstracted and retain a liquid quality. She also contributed six photo transfers of graphic landscapes and a white light source.

Several "Blue" artists, however, used the color as a metaphor for the sky, such as Franco Muller's three oil-paint landscapes on inch-thick wood panels and photographs of clothes hanging from a line embellished with layers of translucent blue paint.

Marco Giacomoni also utilized sky symbolism in his oil paintings of mountain scenes. Created with a soft and wispy technique in shades of white, yellow and blue, Giacomoni instructed the paintings to be mounted on plexiglass so they would appear to float.

Some artists interpreted the concept of blue in entirely unconventional ways.

"Must a painting be blue, to be blue? Blue could also be a thought that is yellow or purple," said Sandra Lehnis. "It also has something to do with moods, with winds, with lights, with nature."

Lehnis' series of paintings showcased in the exhibit are mounted on thin boards and stand away from the walls. With frayed canvas edges, the paintings in soft color blocks of blues, reds, purples and greens depict oval rings.

"My paintings of the last few years all had to do with growing processes," Lehnis said. "The used form or element comes from a simplified seed corn. The blue paintings for the Mountain View exhibition show mostly this kind of seed or membrane."

Christian "Guy" Tschannen also took an alternative approach. He built up layers of acrylic paint on canvases until they were about a half-inch thick. Then, using a wood chisel, he carved them down until he reached his desired design.

"My work seems Swiss because of the process of carving into the surface like wood," he said. "Woodcarving is an old tradition in Switzerland and before I started painting I apprenticed in a woodworking shop."

Tschannen also made wearable art using the same process. He sported his spacesuit of a greenish coat with blue lapels and pants on a visit to San Francisco to help promote the "Blue" show.

"Wearing the Spacesuit, I become a piece of art representing Solothurn in California," he said.
Information

What: "Blue," an exhibition of nine contemporary Swiss artists. Where: Community School of Music and Arts' Mohr Gallery. 230 San Antonio Circle. When: Through Jan. 25, 2005. Cost: Free. Call: 917-6800 or visit www.arts4all.org.

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