Chris Woods: The Magic Hour Part
II
April 5 - 28, 2007
Opening reception Thursday April 5, 6 to 8 pm
The Magic Hour - Part Two
is the culmination of my look at car advertising that began
in 2000 with my double-sided painting ‘Billboard’.
‘Billboard was followed by The Magic Hour-Part One.
In June of 2004 at the Diane Farris Gallery. In Part One I chose
to look at the shadowy side of car advertising. The works were
dark in tone and reflected an uneasy feeling of menace and foreboding.
It addressed the disconnect between the car advertising fantasy
and the hard reality of gridlock.
In The Magic Hour - Part Two I shine some light
in to balance the darkness of part one. Although car advertising
and modern SUVs reflect a tyrannical impulse to conquer the
earth and our fellow citizens, I feel that they also symbolize
the genuine, human desire for liberty. We may possess the dark
urge to dominate the world through the car but the car is also
an instrument of freedom.
This theme is shown in my new painting, "Sable Black".
"Sable Black"’ is a follow up to the painting
"Dragon"’ in which we see a knight with a broken
sword defeated by a lurking and mysterious SUV. In "Sable
Black", the knight holds a newly restored sword aloft in
an image of celebration. He has shed his armor, and with his
new ally he has triumphed over his four-wheeled nemesis. The
SUV is still trapped in the billboard while the man has escaped
to freedom.
Another work in "The Magic Hour-Part 2" is a piece
called "Cactus"’. This piece shows two figures
on a desert highway at dusk. The woman hands the man a large,
brilliant diamond while a mysterious, spiny, floating bomb looms
behind them. Even though there is no car seen in the painting
we see headlights reflected in the bomb itself. We the viewer,
sit in the car. I see the diamond as a triumph over the darkness
the bomb, and ultimately the car, represents. Two other pieces,
"Professional Driver, Closed Course"’ and "Six
Point Adjustable", each show a figure confident in the
powers their cars grant them. They may be right.
Some darker questions still linger in
these new works. The painting, "Cortez" asks a simple
one: "Does the car seek to bless us or destroy us?"
The sword, like the car, is only a tool in the woman’s
hand. This is the primary theme of the entire Magic Hour
series. Both the car and the sword are static and lifeless without
us. The Magic Hour series is not about the influence
of the car over us, but our choice in wielding the car against
ourselves.
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Professional Driver, Closed Course,
oil on canvas, 2007
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