The Seattle Times: Two artists, two visions from the ordinary

Friday, August 01, 2003, 12:00 a.m. Pacific

Visual Arts
Two artists, two visions from the ordinary

By Matthew Kangas
Special to The Seattle Times

Much contemporary art today rejects traditional materials in favor of easily available technology or, better yet, ready-made consumer objects that are found or happened upon. Two cases in point: Miranda July, a Portland artist in her solo debut at Tom Landowski Gallery, transforms family snapshots she has found. And Claude Zervas, who is having his first one-man show in a gallery at James Harris, uses light bulbs found inside computer scanners to create abstract light sculptures and works on paper. Both artists turn our attention to the world around us in all its mundane glory.

Is there anything Miranda July doesn't do? At 29, she's racked up an impressive résumé, but not for her photographic alterations. Rather, she's a published short-story writer, a film- and video-maker, an actress and, on top of it all, a sound artist who makes radio plays and sound installations set up in museums. Her videos are widely collected in the U.S. and Europe.

Exhibit reviews

"Miranda July," 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays through Aug. 14, Tom Landowski Gallery, 403 Cedar St., Seattle; free (206-448-0284).

"Claude Zervas," 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays through Aug. 14, James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave. S., Seattle; free (206-903-6220).

One of her videos is at Tom Landowski; it's only three minutes long and worth your time. A man, woman and child sitting in a waiting room near metered television seats are filmed moving in and out of the frame. July alters their appearance by adding blobby, colored auras above each figure. Part document, part painting, this work captures a few private moments.

Of greater interest, 12 color-print photos of varying sizes are casually displayed without frames in the main gallery. In each case, the Vermont native has inserted orange disc shapes into the images of families, children, street scenes and landscapes. The original snapshot is then re-photographed, enlarged and printed; in some cases, quite large, up to four feet high.

With no recognizable references at all, Claude Zervas' constructions have an endearingly clunky appearance. Wires dangle visibly beneath the simple configurations of 6 to 8 scanner lamps mounted on walls. These are joined by prints made directly on a scanner bed by waving lit matches or a flashlight across the glass scanner while the machine is on. The results are beautiful strands of upright colored lines. "Ten Matches" and "Flashlight 1 and 2" (all the works were done this year) are very promising, both in terms of process and end product.

Zervas' multiple-element sculptures look like light sketches, complete with bunched-up wires that reinforce the intimate, linear character.

"Big Field" is an electronic landscape with its cool green elements all in a row. More dimensional, "Lake Ann" juts out from the wall with triangular outlines entering the gallery space in a timid, but convincing, way. "A4" is bigger, at nearly six feet high. Its two rows of pink and white lamps are offset by a delicious tangle of wires. Like July, Zervas has taken simple, available materials but, unlike her, he has combined them in ways that have a formal power that is unlikely to fade or date soon.