Handforth Gallery (housed inside the main branch of Tacoma Public Library) is currently hosting a two-person show of works by local artists Jennifer Chin and James De Foe. Both artists work with bright color making for a dazzling display that immediately draws the attention of gallery visitors.
Chin calls her part of the show “Meditations.” Her compositions are abstract, mostly repeated patterns of several select colors. Chin works with a wet-on-wet method: pouring acrylic paint onto thick, wet paper so that the pigments blur and merge into one another. Chin embraces the element of chance as a feature of her work. Out of chaos, a composition emerges. The paintings on paper are mounted on wood panels for their final presentation.
Some of Chin’s pieces can seem too amorphous, but others are very alluring. The painting “Tangerine and Teal” has a wonderfully fuzzy effect where the titular tones merge with black. It is like a close-up look at the fur on the flank of some giant, psychedelic cat.
Chin is a graduate of the University of Washington art school and now resides in Tacoma.
De Foe calls his half of the show “Eye of the Beholder.” He is a professional musician and it is music that inspires his visual art. Like the works of Chin, those of De Foe are also mounted on wooden panels. De Foe does mostly figurative work – mostly faces. The faces gaze back at the viewer – silent and haunting. The artist likes to employ a device of grids across the surface so that the subjects appear to exist behind windows or fences. With titles like “Wistful,” “Whatever,” and “Why?” De Foe seems to be trying to use the subtleties of facial expressions to convey fleeting emotional states. He succeeds in conveying a sense of mute alienation.
The works are multimedia: pencil, color pencil, oil pastel. They appear to be derived from digital images that are colored in and then embedded beneath a layer of encaustic. The wax overlay gives them texture and depth.
Both artists come across as gauzy and dreamy. The works of the two thus tend to exist in harmony despite that one is abstract and the other is mostly figurative.
Jennifer Chin and James De Foe runs through April 25. For further information visit http://www.tpl.lib.wa.us. ("programs and events" tab). More on Chin can be found at moxiecolor.com while those interested in De Foe can go to http://jamesdefoe.com.