Clay Vorhes - TRAPEZE

April 1, 2015 | University Library Gallery, California State University - Sacramento

I currently have a class that meets in the University Library Gallery twice a week, which is a great way to visit the exhibitions that come through there during the semester. After class, I stayed a bit and really took the time to observe Clay Vorhes show. His paintings tie into a dance performance that is set to happen during Sac State’s Festival of the Arts (April 8-13) by a performance group called “Bandaloop”. These “vertical dancers” repel off the sides of buildings and mountains and such to music; I checked out some videos on their website and what they do is pretty cool!

Me at the exhibit

Clay’s show is called “Trapeze” and had a bit of a circus show vibe to it, with wire walkers and trapeze artists throughout all of the paintings. His works are all pretty large in scale and all but a few pieces were very mostly painted white. Clay’s paintings seemed very abstract at first, with lines etched into thick layers of paint and patterns popping out of the impasto. After looking a bit closer, there are these human figures placed throughout, putting on a performance. Some figures are more sporadically placed throughout, like they’re practicing, while others seem to be in the midst of the finale of the night’s show. Some figures were on bicycles, some doing gymnastic moves and others looking like they are flying through the painting. There is such movement and fun throughout each of the pieces, I felt like each of the little performers were alive, dancing about the painting.

(from left to right) TRAPEZE #47q, TRAPEZE #55, TRAPEZE #48q
Oil on Canvas

TRAPEZE #34
Oil on Canvas

TRAPEZE #34 (detail)

TRAPEZE #20
Oil on Canvas

TRAPEZE #20 (detail)

TRAPEZE #51
Oil on Canvas

TRAPEZE #51 (detail)

TRAPEZE #17
Oil on Canvas

TRAPEZE #17 (detail)

TRAPEZE #50
Oil on Canvas

TRAPEZE #50 (detail)

I absolutely loved this exhibition and I really like Clay’s work. There were so many interesting elements to his pieces: the lines, the paint application, the size of the canvases. I thought the abstraction of his work and how it played back and forth with the characterized elements was an intriguing relationship. At first pass, it seemed like a very repetitive collection of paintings, but after really looking at each piece on it’s own, I saw the rhythm that each one carried. Upon my departure, looking back and seeing the works together in one room was truly powerful and no longer a room full of white painted canvases. Very much a fun and inspiring show!

(more information on the gallery here)