San Diego Union-Tribune
May 26, 2005

ART REVIEW

'GRRRRRL POWER' OFFERS AN ENERGETIC SAMPLING OF WORKS.

by Robert L. Pincus
ART CRITIC

Some people need a pristine white gallery to decide if the art hanging on the walls is worth the bother. But Bill Pierce, an energetic curator and all-around galvanizer of events for emerging artists, works with any kind of space, as long as he can put the art before the public. It's a large plus in a town that could benefit from more venues.

"Grrrrrl Power" is another example of Pierce putting this premise into practice. The space is so cramped at the gallery that he had to use the display windows to include work by all 16 artists. One can complain, from the get-go, that his enthusiasm for art and artists takes precedence over a discerning eye.

Still, the notion of a show that offers an array of new work by young women artists is a welcome one. And if the quality doesn't stay as high as it should, "Grrrrrl Power" has a scrappy can-do energy.

Small works loom largest, in terms of fresh vision and craft. May-Ling Martinez, a standout artist in the recent juried exhibition at Carlsbad's Cannon Art Gallery, is also a standout here. Three small collages feature a mysterious fusion of archetypal figures from decades past, probably culled from children's books or magazines, circa 1950, that overlap with machinery, an occasional fragment of a photograph and a bit of decorative pattern.

Her images are like unsettling dreams with a retro look to them. "The Function of a Doll" contains a cozily domestic little moment, in which a dad and daughter are lavishing attention on a doll in a highchair. Martinez embellished the borrowed Hallmark moment with some curious sights: machines whose appendages attach themselves to both man and girl, turning the image into a curious science-fiction moment.

Little paintings on wood by Janelle Carter apply fluid brushwork to scenes that are alternatively ordinary or imagined. The close-up of a face looks a little wobbly in "Slippery Slope"; the fact that she is staring into a green bottle gives her title an ominous dimension.

Not too many of the works Pierce has included are dull. Tanya Januszko's painting of Bono is. It's crisply done, but seems redundant. Woudn't a color photo in a magazine do just as well? Painting needs to be more than just a crisp rendering of a global celebrity, unless the artist has something to say about celebrity.