SuttonBeresCuller
Puzzles and Portraits at Greg Kucera Gallery
Puzzles and Portraits
Greg Kucera Gallery
January 7 – February 20, 2016
PUZZLE – A PAINTING IN 150 PARTS is just that—a large, singular puzzle now broken into its individual, but constituent, parts. Each puzzle piece was laser cut from a plywood blank, assembled as a whole, then painstakingly painted as a large image encompassing all the parts.
Now the pieces are presented in the gallery as separate parts. Each part is also its own unique whole, whether completely abstract, or depicting elements of landscape, still life or figurative imagery.
Viewers will not know what the complete image is until 2021 when the work is reassembled and exhibited as a complete pictorial whole for the first time publicly. Until then, only the artists will have ever seen it whole.
For the SEARS PORTRAITS, the trio of SuttonBeresCuller, have relied on Sears photo department and their own various individual skills for make-up, costume and concept to create myriad views of themselves in different guises. The artists would regularly schedule time at Sears with their ideas, props, clothing and cosmetics, and then work with the much amused or annoyed technicians there to snap their photographs.
Their costume choices include Mexican wrestler “Luchadores,” Seahawks fans, Mariners players, graduates, and even bridesmaids. They may be wearing gas masks, Groucho Marx masks, orange jail suits, goofy striped sweaters, Burger King crowns, or simply aluminum foil. Elaborate make-up shows them as ghosts, vampires, or with gory bruises, cuts and black eyes. They employ a number of alter egos including themselves as old men, cowboys, NASCAR fans, construction workers, or junior businessmen. Or revealing facial expressions, postures or attitudes that are hard to pin down exactly but suggestive of the range that accomplished actors can convey. In some of the most touching photos, the three men are shown juxtaposed to their own fathers, wearing the same outfits. As the artists have aged over the 13 years this series has spanned thus far, the images become telling portraits of the artists as young men, and now middle aged men.