I used to think the watercolor medium was unavoidably anarchic, full of what David Cohen calls "reckless fluidity." I could never control it adequately. Then I saw an Albrecht Durer painting. So much for unavoidable anarchy.

~73%, which opened and closed last Friday at an unnamed space between Eyedrum and Mattress Factory Lofts. The show's title refers to the fact that the human body is about 73% water at birth, and the show attempted to dislodge the favorite medium of weekend plein air painters from its mooring in the pastoral landscape tradition, at least as construed in the popular imagination.


Mt. Fuji at Sunrise, May 1968, Ann-Marie Manker, watercolor, ink, wood, magic garden, 2008



"Popular imagination" turns out to be important, as that is really the only place where nature-obsessed painters like Gainsborough, Turner, and Winslow Homer still rule the watercolor roost. The art world itself actually broke the pastoral noose decades ago as folks like Robert Bechtle, Chuck Close, Tim Gardner, Elizabeth Peyton, Till Friewald, and David Remfry do their respective watercolor thangs. I suspect most of the artists in this show already know this. But it was nice to see a medium reconsidered as such.


Twin Speak 1 and Twin Speak 2, watercolor and thread on arches paper, 2008



The show may even be on to something curatorially important: in most of the examples I named before, the shift from pastoral themes to other things (mostly photography-derived portraiture) arguably has more to do with changes in the notion of what "nature" is than with a rejection of the notion that it should be closely observed. Many of the works in this show, however, leave observation behind entirely in favor of pure abstraction,


Untitled, Ben McGehee, watercolor and ink on arches paper, 2008




Crystal Clouds, Katie Stockton, watercolor and gouache on clayboard, 2008

or actually make artificial things in order to observe and paint them, as is the case with Kelly Cloninger's works, which are paintings of female genitalia that she made with various fabrics, not the actual things (personal favorite),


Untitled (both), Kelly Cloninger, watercolor, acrylic, paper, lace, fabric, wood, 2008



or various fanciful blends of observation and fantasy.


Untitled (Chainsaw), Sean Abrahams, watercolor and mixed media, 2008


artist unknown

What's unclear is if any of this mens that the new watercolor is ready for prime time. Does it make a difference, for example, that this is rendered in watercolor, instead of, say, acrylic, other than simply the way it looks?

Would this have some different meaning or historical import rendered in acrylic, oil, or I don't know... egg tempera?


Portaits [sic], Amiynah Hanna, watercolor on arches paper, 2008



Or have we reached a time when all media have become one? When there is only the medium of representation, not various "media"?


Burned, Pam Rogers, watercolor, ink and wax on paper, 2008



Interesting questions from an unassuming, yet thought-provoking show.


Untitled, Monica Ellis, watercolor and ink, 2008

Thanks for coming to the show and sharing your thoughts and pics!