BRITISH COLUMBIA: Jesse Garbe, Recent Paintings
Nov 17 — Dec 8, 2005, Diane Farris Gallery, Vancouver
by Ann Rosenberg
Diane Farris has a long history of supporting
emerging artists, some while they are still in school and others
as recent graduates. When I first met Farris in 1990, she was
showing intriguing portraits by Chris Woods of his friends engaged
in what appeared to be mysterious rites. Many viewers thought
the 21-year-old Woods had talent, but it was Farris who immediately
gave him a gallery show. A few years earlier, Farris had been
similarly instrumental in showcasing Richard Attila Lukacs's
paintings and introducing his work to the international art
market. Unlike many art dealers who make landscapes and abstracts
their mainstay, Farris often presents art that is puzzling,
even risky. She frequently shows figurative work and portraiture
that her peers might deem to be unsaleable. As she told me recently,
she chooses with her heart, not her head.
The current exhibition of paintings and drawings by Jesse Garbe
confirms that Farris has not lost her touch in selecting promising
new artists. Garbe is just 26 years of age and this is his first
solo show. He won the 2003 Alvin Balkind Scholarship while he
was an undergraduate at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design,
suggesting that his skills have already received a measure of
recognition.
Garbe's exhibition at the Diane Farris Gallery gives credence
to the directive, "write (or paint) what you know."
The gallery space is filled with all manner of portraits; full-length,
heads, and torsos. Approximately one-fifth are self-portraits.
All the others, except for the painting of art dealer Farris,
are of family and friends. Virtually all make careful reference
to the studio space in which they were engendered, right down
to the different colours of the walls, the bits of green tape
on the floor that keep the position of the subjects constant
during the sittings, and the exact shapes of each white splatter
on the studio's red floor where Garbe paints hour after hour,
day after day. In addition, the full-length paintings include
a portrait of the artist painting the portrait. All are broadly
but accurately rendered in a manner that references Garbe's
thorough understanding of Velázquez, Goya, and Manet.
All these elements are present in The Studio, a full-length
depiction of a former classmate of the artist. The sombre young
man who stands at the centre of the canvas looking directly
at the viewer is reminiscent of Manet's The Fifer.
The dense shadow surrounding him adds a note of drama, while
the tape on the floor gives insight into the almost scientific
approach Garbe takes to insure this portrait conveys an aura
of immutability. The image at bottom left, showing the artist
painting his friend, appears at first to be an actual canvas
propped up in its own specially designated spot. A closer inspection
reveals, however, that what the viewer sees is a reflection
in a mirror.
By introducing the device of a mirror into almost all of his
portraits, Garbe intentionally creates a series of pictorial
puzzles. The Studio is a conundrum equivalent to the
one Velázquez constructed in Las Meninas where
the artist's precise physical position in relation to the serving
maids, dwarfs, and members of the Spanish royal family is impossible
to pin down. The consensus is that a large mirror is part of
Velázquez's multiple portrait, although no floor plan
has ever been postulated to show how it facilitated the artist
as he worked on his canvas.
The tour de force painting in Garbe's exhibition shows Farris
(whose first passion was dance) wearing a pink tutu and seated
in an armchair with a blond, curly-haired dog on her lap. Farris's
face is sober, and the mottled flesh tones indicate the influence
of Lucien Freud. An image at upper left of the canvas shows
Garbe working on the painting, reflected in a circular mirror.
What creates the sizzle in this portrait is the large swatch
of pink tulle that spills over the arms of the chair, under
the perfectly painted small dog, and down onto the floor. It's
as though Farris's pet is settled into a cushion of pink candy
floss. The painting was created in the artist's studio where,
obviously, all sorts of magic happens. Garbe set himself a high
challenge when he chose to include a trompe d'oeil rendition
of the tulle — and in Art Dealer and Dog he vaulted
over the bar.
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In the Studio, 2004-5
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