An artist is defined “a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria.” If this definition is true, then I am not sure what Barry Targan is. He produces work in MANY of the arts, not just ANY. If you have seen Barry’s work at VAM (under his 
alias, Richard Dubin), you have enjoyed his acrylic paintings. He loves acrylic because it’s a forgiving medium. “It dries so quickly that you can almost immediately make corrections, which for me, is a great advantage,” he says.He paints from photographs, but only photographs he’s taken himself, then he enhances the images on a computer. “My method is an ancient one; that is, I grid the printed photograph and then translate that by a grid of the larger canvas,” he says. “It seems that my favorite subject is flowers, but I try to avoid just describing them. I make sometimes extreme distortions, hopefully making the painting look like flowers but also something else. I try to set the viewer’s imagination free.” One of his main subjects is still life, particularly fruits and vegetables.
Barry’ describes his new show, “Containment,” as, “All kinds of containers and the way materials contain space. Copper shapes, wood boxes, ceramics, birdhouses, some paintings, handmade books, polymer clay, plaster,” he says. “I’ve always believed that the intent of art is to give an informing shape to human experience. Indeed, what makes us human is the ability to order our thoughts and emotions, to give them “a local habitation and a name.” To do this the artist has to discover the pressures that give a work its presence. The composer has to find and control harmonic keys, the painter has to control light and color. The writer must discover and control narrative. For myself, for this exhibition, I’m concerned to explore the ways we contain space in both positive and negative structures.”
Artist reception will be held on Saturday February 17th from 3:00 – 5:00 pm.
