Thursday, September 30, 2010
Essay: Lynn Rupe's Urban Habitat at Block Gallery,
Winooski
by Christopher Byrne
Lynn RupeÕs ÒUrban HabitatÓ
paintings grab you. At first look, you see a brightly colored cityscape, in
flat perspective. Tall buildings fill up the canvas and on the streets below
you see cars and school buses –yellow, red, blue, and brown- and
advertising—human and animal faces wearing sunglasses and mannequinsÉand
then you see animals. Lions, narwhals, gorillas, bears, elephants. It all seems
quite whimsical. Pause a moment and consider again the juxtaposition. The
animals are as much a part of the traffic as the cars are, hence many titles
starting with ÒExpect DelaysÓ. We see that Rupe is saying something much
larger.
In RupeÕs artist statement
for ÒUrban HabitatÓ, a word that repeats several times is ÒremainÓ. As in, what
remains of these animalsÕ habitats? How long will these animals remain on earth
before human encroachment wipes them out? And a larger, unasked question is how
long will humans remain if the animals cannot?
Many of the animals depicted
are endangered, but RupeÕs 2004 work SpixÕs Macaws(32Óx36Ó, acrylic on
canvas) depicts a bird that is most likely extinct in the wild. Here we see
four of them, soaring over the city and we are soaring with them over the
traffic. Bears, elephants, lions, narwhals, cattle, birds all need space in
which to roam, be it on the savannah, in the forest or from South to North
America. Rupe says about this, ÒOn these canvases I depict my fantasies of
animals appearing in cities. Cities will be what is left for themÉso they had
just better adapt! Éand there they are—calmly crossing the downtown
streets. So I guess we had better expect a few traffic jams and a few delays!
Ha!Ó
Also, the animals are quite
large relative to the cars and the buildings. In Expect Delays: Four Bears
(acrylic on canvas), the bears even walk upright. Rupe acknowledges that some
wild creatures have adapted to the urban habitat. City of Falcons
(83Óx44Ó, acrylic on canvas, 2004) shows shadowy, large falcons flying over the
city. But Rupe reminds us, ÒMost wild animals, though, have crawled far away
from humans to find some peace and refuge in remnants of forests and swamps. It
is absurd to believe that these minuscule islands of habitat are adequate homes
for wild animals.Ó
Even Vermont does not escape
RupeÕs eye in this regard. She has a Òtwinkle in her eyeÓ at the moment for
another piece in the series, featuring downtown Winooski, the Top Block and
herons. That work will certainly cause second looks.
Lynn RupeÕs ÒUrban HabitatÓ
is on display through October at:
The Block Gallery
1 East Allen Street
Winooski 05404
(802) 373-5150
Image: Expect Delays: Narwhals
by Lynn Rupe (43Ó x 52Ó,
acrylic-on-canvas)
Posted by marc awodey MFA at 1:13 PM
Labels: essay