Schlitz, Beverly Grable

Archive Label 2003: This rusting, crumpled beer can transcends its normal status as refuse through the microscopic, photographic viewpoint that the artist has adopted. Using monumentality and the presumption of name-brand recognition, Grable challenges us to confront consumption and commodification in American society. Exhibition Label: "Dreams and Portals," Jun-2008, Kris Ercums and Susan Earle Intro Label: This summer display features selections from the Spencer’s permanent collection, including works that may evoke dreams and ideas of place, near and far. The works range in media from painting and watercolor to collage, textile, and video. Some may transport you to other places, such as the lyrical "Blue Door (La Porte Bleue)" by French artist Pierre Lesieur. Reflecting the artist’s travels to North Africa, this painting evokes the sea or an open door in a way that suggests a dream, or a portal. Many works feature abstract imagery, at times suggestive of dreams, or passages to other landscapes, be they of the mind or actual places. Others combine abstraction and figuration, like the William T. Wiley drawing "Feeding Time." Others teeter between realism and abstraction, such as "Foam Chrome II" by Gary Pruner. A portal can be defined as a door or gate or entrance, especially a grand or imposing one. Paintings themselves are like portals. They allow us to enter worlds and spaces like nothing else can. Let your mind wander and see what dreams you might recall, or what new perspectives you might gain. Label: This rusting, crumpled beer can transcends its normal status as refuse through the microscopic, photographic viewpoint that the artist has adopted. Using monumentality and the presumption of name-brand recognition, Grable challenges us to confront consumption and commodification in American society. The enlarged image recalls Pop Art’s use of billboard scale.