Still Waters Run Deep • Victoria Pearson at Porch Gallery, Ojai

Feb 6

Feb 6 Still Waters Run Deep • Victoria Pearson at Porch Gallery, Ojai

By Jane Handel

Victoria Pearson’s hope is that each of her art works is a tabula rasa upon which the viewer can project anything at all. In this context, the current exhibit of her photographs at Porch Gallery in Ojai bears an appropriate title: ELEMENTAL.

Indeed, several of the images in this exhibit have been pared down to their essence; the objects in the photographs, whether a single white egg, a clear glass of glistening ice water, two bundles of sticks, one burnt, one not; a white, starched and pressed men’s dress shirt, a rock resembling a glorious full moon, are refined and elegant with no extraneous information to distract the eye.

*Victoria Pearson, Untitled images, 40x60. Courtesy the Artist.*

By relying purely on ambient, diffused and gentle light with no dramatic shadows, Pearson’s subjects evoke a simple but poetic beauty. Although some of the works are certainly minimalistic, because most of the dye transfer prints are in a large format (approximately 35 x 55 inches or larger), they also convey an almost monolithic quality that bestows a gravitas which belies their simplicity. But, unlike the efforts of the Minimalists, which are consciously devoid of metaphor, Pearson’s subjects, in keeping with her tabula rasa theme, can be symbolic of many things. For instance, the glass of water is beautiful in and of itself, but I have never been able to look at it without thinking of the ongoing drought we face in California and how increasingly precious a simple glass of drinking water is everywhere on the planet.

Although the still life wasn't considered to be a genre until the 16th century in Europe, it has inspired artists throughout history from the ancient Egyptians to the present. But unlike the didactic or moralizing use of symbols that was common in Dutch painting, for instance, the still life has evolved as a means by which artists, like Pearson, vivify and honor everyday objects or elements of nature that one’s eye might quickly pass over, take for granted, not consider as beautiful because they seem so ordinary. In that sense, Pearson’s still lifes evoke a simple, direct, straightforward and non-hierarchical reverence for life. As contemplative talismans, they engender a sense of calm, a respite from the chaos and anxiety one encounters in the course of one’s life.

Apart from the scale, some of Pearson’s images of objects—the still lifes—bring to mind the work of other artists: Josef Sudek took many photos of humble glasses of water; Giorgio Morandi was famous for his paintings of simply composed, mostly white, vases; and of course Edward Weston’s now-iconic images of peppers or nautilus seashells. But then there are her muted, soft-focus compositions of stones, reminding one of a Zen garden.

*Victoria Pearson, Untitled, 40x60. Courtesy the Artist.*

And, too, providing a powerful anchor for the exhibit are Pearson’s portraits of two majestic sheep: One, with a white face turned to look directly at the viewer; the other, with a black face seen in profile, looks away. Both of these sheep are so sharply in focus that we can see every strand of hair, every bit of debris embedded in the matted wool of their coats, and every blade of grass in which they stand; they convey a calm solidity and dignity that one doesn’t, ordinarily, associate with sheep. They are truly magnificent creatures and Pearson’s homage is compelling.

Victoria Pearson’s photographs are exhibited in tandem with the sculptures of Douglas Tausik Ryder. It is a thoughtful pairing of two artists, working in very different mediums, who have distilled their subjects down to their essences; the forms depicted often echo and thus, compliment, one another.