A subtle geometry
Stuart Allen draws on science for his sculpture and photography
By Victoria Dalkey -- Bee Art Correspondent

Art and science come together in "Lines and Planes," a show of new works by Woodland artist Stuart Allen at Jay Jay gallery. Composed of two separate bodies of work -- photographs and sculptures -- that complement each other in interesting ways, the show addresses ideas about light, space, time and motion with an aesthetic based on simplicity and elegance. Though Allen's work is filled with notions based on physics, it comes across first and foremost as art.

Made of sailcloth attached to arcs of laminated cherry and ash, Allen's sculptures are beautifully articulated visual expressions with an almost Japanese sense of refinement and craft. The pristine sailcloth, with an inlaid grid pattern that adds texture as well as a subtle geometry to the works, billows, bends and twists from the bowed wood in elegant movements that suggest the speed and force of wind in sails or the delicate darting of kites floating overhead.

"Start" is an arrangement of V-shaped forms jutting out from two walls, calling up associations with both sailboats and the wings of gulls scudding across unseen water. It's a cool and conceptual take on light and motion that sets the tone for the rest of the show.

"Start" shares the front room of Jay Jay with a site-specific piece based on the latitude and longitude of the gallery. Elegant and icy, it floats overhead in a series of ascending kite forms that rise in a subtly twisting arc, playing with the proportions of the gallery and the natural light falling from its high front windows.

Allen, who studied architecture at Kansas University before earning a bachelor of fine arts in photography and video from the Kansas City Art Institute, uses his skills as a designer and builder in these simple yet complex evocations of motion that address the space of the room that houses them.

In other pieces expanding on the bow-shaped wooden forms of "Start," Allen drops scrims of subtly twisting sailcloth in "Twist No. 1" and "Twist No. 2." Suspended from the ceiling in the gallery's L-shaped back room, they cast shadows that resemble masts with sails bent in the wind. Yet they also suggest weaponry. They might be Japanese bows used by Zen archers with austere banners attached.

A trio of pieces that are composed of suspended aluminum linear forms that twist and intersect in arcing movements round out the sculptural segment of the show. These nimble pieces play with proportional ratios to create solid drawings in space that interact with their cast shadows.

"One to One and a Half" rotates as it hangs from the ceiling, adding a kinetic element to the mix. "One to Two" is a long and limber dancing form that calls up associations with the body.
Allen's photographs also address the body. Created by slow exposures, they are self-portraits of a sort that track the movements of Allen's body as he gestures in a darkened space with flashlights. The results are stark black backgrounds in which space is defined and articulated with light. These records of gestures and motions Allen has made over a period of time are disembodied images of the self in action.

They are also wonderful gesture drawings made up of pure luminous lines. "Arm Circle" is a basic geometric shape made by moving the flashlight in a circle that is like a Zen ink drawing in reverse. "Arm Circle, Walking" extends the same gesture, as Allen moves through space swinging his flashlight in circles so that the light leaves a trail of exuberantly glowing markings.
These drawings in light are at times almost painterly, and some have a sculptural quality. "Zigzag Turning" is a vibrant squiggle that records a scribbling motion in a light form that has an almost three-dimensional feeling. "Zigzag Head to Toe" is a long coil of light that explodes with expressive, painterly force against its dark background. "Seven Turning Lines" depicts the body metaphorically in a series of bracelet-like arcs that suggest X-ray images of a rib cage.

While most of the images emerge from pure darkness with no sense of up or down, "Three Standing Lines," plummeting to the bottom where their shine lights up the line where wall meets floor, adds an element of spatial gravity to the work.

Allen is one of the brightest young artists around. In his early 30s, he has already done major public works based on kite forms for the U. S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, and the city of Davis police headquarters. His works are included in the Tokyo Kite Museum in Japan, the DiRosa Art Preserve in Napa, the Kansas City Art Institute and the Crocker Art Museum, where he is scheduled for a show later this year.

Lines and Planes: Recent Photography and Sculpture by Stuart Allen
WHERE: Jay Jay, 5520 Elvas Ave.
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, through Feb. 22
INFORMATION: (916) 453-2999.