Anna Hawthorne’s ‘Mixed Media’

Press, 6 October 1988, Page 19

Anna Hawthorne’s ‘Mixed Media’

review

“Mixed Media,” by Anna Hawthorne, at the Gingko Gallery, until October 6. Reviewed by Pat Unger. Showing at the Gingko Gallery is "Mixed Media” by Canadian artist, Anna Hawthorne. An introductory sheet says her "emblematic materials construct images evocative of the American Indian people ...” and asks the question “... are the works ironic or concerned with their own surfaces?” The answer must be the latter. In both drawings and relief works everything is subdued to the requirements of composition and design “taste.” Both styles have, in general, a T format. This suggests primitive iconography; it unites the works visually for exhibition purposes and it makes good use of the white

paper without which many would pale to insignificance. Stamped stencils — of blocks, triangles, leaves and torn paper edge, enhanced with scribble, blotching, brushmark and crayon — give pleasing visual results. One work, a grid, is made of small, magenta rectangles, overprinted and suffused with gold. Another, “Kimono,” its planes of torn paper edged with an embossing or embroidering effect and "cut to a T,” has appeal. The reliefs imply nomadic life. Tents, hides, dress, bones, fetishes and

feathers, presented as allusions to/or as the objects themselves, are central motifs on painted paper grounds. In some, these pieces of torn paper are like beautiful little metallic artefacts or parchment relics. Their over all impact, however, is one of contrived arrangements, little above art decorations. They hint at tribalism through stereotypical associations that lack depth or conviction. Vacuum-pac presentation does not help. This exhibition shows an artist preoccupied with technique. The works have an intimacy about them which indicates rapport between artist and image — resulting in balanced designs. But there is little else to challenge the viewer into seeking anything more than a superficial reading of surface.