by Ryan Bachman

he iron age means something different for everyone,  especially in the minds of artists and their work.

The Center for the Visual Arts is presenting Contemporary Metals USA, an exhibit of metal works being sponsored by TIMET Titanium Metals Corporation.

The first pieces noticed are two untitled aluminum works done by Tom Logan. Both of the flat wall hangings are geometrically pleasing with a strong silver finish suggesting an architectural inspiration.

Around the corner from Logan, is Noellynn Peposâ Bad Cede, a tall, vertically standing iron beam, curved and smoothed with fine edges and points. Next to it lies a podlike figure wound together by thin strands of iron much like a metal ball of yarn.

ãI am currently fascinated with barriers and the undertones and ironies of their function,ä Pepos said. ãThrough their active or passive power, they can protect, suppress or empower. Reflecting upon these ideas, my work is meant to awaken the visual senses to the texture value and color of society.ä

Next, Sarah Obrechtâs series of crude copper devices hang along a wall together appearing much like medieval torture devices÷ sharp and primitive with jagged and fine points. The current work continues to explore the use of multiples and contrasting surfaces in response to natural forms. Elements are layered/grouped for their tactile quality and the sound created when handled, Obrecht said.

ãBy combining natural references with controlled forms, I create my own spices: nature with a twist,ä Obrecht said.

One of the more functional, however, no less elegant pieces is Sideboard Table, by Albert Paley. The base of the table

consists of fabricated-forged steel, heavy with a fine ribbonlike steel winding and tangling around the legs supporting a glass top. On the table are Paleyâs two White House Candlesticks, forged in the same way as the table base.


Beside Paleyâs work is another such functional piece by Beverly Penn, titled Stack. The tall and narrow table and chair are both steel, standing together in a corner and give the scene a lonely visual and a sense of longing for freedom from an industrial environment. The piece is also set off by a stack of copper torn notebook paper loosely stacked on the small tabletop.

ãEach of my sculptures alludes to the mixed blessings of contemporary daily life by emphasizing the interactions and negotiations that happen between people and their environments,ä Penn said. ãI pose the human figure against architectural structures as a way of naming the struggle.ä In some pieces architecture dominates the figures, while in other work the figures are disturbingly absent,ä Penn said.

One of the more immense pieces on display is Tom Joyceâs Quoin 1, a large work consisting of two iron circles fastened together by wood binding four rows of four stacks of books. The Pyrophte series of work (Quoin and Platen) deals with questions raised in considering the consolidation of information inside the age of computers, Joyce said. Joyceâs Platen is of two hanging parallel iron beams with pages of books seemingly burned onto them.

ãMost of these pieces are titled after printing terms,ä Joyce said after having worked in a printing press at age 16. ãMany are bound of squeezed with in iron structures as type is held in an iron printers case.ä

Peter Joseph also contributes a sizable work to the exhibit. His Laddle and An End to a Means to an End are both heavy-looking structures fashioned out of steel and appearing like wrecking balls with folding spherical basses.

Finally, John Diamond-Nigh puts forth Requiem, a thin standing square steel face, rusted with jagged points constituting a border. ãThis piece I have always placed alone, in a forest, in the middle of a field of grain, half eclipsed by the grain itself, its profile suggesting the imminent cutting of the harvester but also suggesting the profile of a simple solitary house of dreams, a fieldâs square, an iron pulse or point of sharp, gritty jubilation and repose,ä Diamond-Nigh said.

Other artists on hand include Richard Beckman, J. Agnes Chwae, Gary Griffen and Carol Kumata.

Contemporary Metals USA is running through Feb. 28 at the Center for the Visual Arts at 1701 Wazee St.

Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Fridays and noon-4 p.m.,
Saturdays.