Contrast, Shifting Planes, Relevance and Relativity

There is an opening of real interest coming to Standard Space in Sharon. Theo Coulombe, the proprietor, has discovered a brain-slapping body of work by Siobhan McBride.

She distills physical experience. She imposes relevance on rooms she finds, and to see it is to feel multiple unfolding events wrapped in the stillness of paint. To lift her words out of context: “Everything you’re thinking or reading all gets laid on top of one another.”

The unusual nature of McBride’s work is partially conveyed in previous solo show titles. Of particular service in this regard: “Four Hour Fortune Cookie,” from her 2017 University of Maine Museum show, and “Strong Winds May Exist,” from her 2012 show at Eight Modern in Santa Fe, N.M. Even her Standard Space show title, the more direct “4D Heart,” indicates certain rarity.

McBride’s workmanship is above reproach, so you won’t need to ask the old question, “Is this artist trying to pull something over on me?” One finds cerebral comfort in artistic excellence, and said skills are perfectly in place here. McBride got her MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005, and more on point, her well-honed brushwork simply rocket-engines these works. 

McBride traffics in stark colors and very flat planes. Bold lines abound. She is unafraid of contrast. Her acrylics depict vivid interiors: in this show, she trots out not a single figure, and her sharp, edgy delineation of forms should stop viewers in their tracks.

“Night Noise,” an acrylic gouache on paper on panel, 18” x 24”, depicts a lamp and a water bottle on a vibrant green shelf. Just as your mind is ready to dismiss the base underneath the shelf, it shifts into the foreground, revealing itself as an entirely different room, something hiding and completely “other.”

“Kitchen Smells,” matte acrylics on paper on panel, 8” x 6”, offers us a door starkly lit from behind. There is one of those cloth, fold-out rectangular laundry baskets on the floor, and the careful depiction of its loose canvas handles allows the viewer instant understanding that not only is life impermanent, but also that we are constantly missing out on minutiae that would, if but examined, enlighten us entirely. (This interpretation is somewhat subjective; actual viewer results may vary.)

I believe McBride is no stranger to relativity. Her position on the continuum is that: “When you live in a space, it expands.” This reflective nature plows through her work like a weathered farmer with a mule purchased ages ago, in Arizona. She very carefully molds what our pedestrian minds would dismiss as the everyday normal into invisible car crashes, well-disguised as paintings.

I don’t want to say that if you miss this show you might as well write off your Berkshire Fall Experience altogether, but, well, I wouldn’t argue with someone who did state that.

“4D Heart” will be at Standard Space in Sharon, Conn., Oct. 4 - Nov. 3. Go to www.standardspace.net for more.