Aaronel's Architour: Bilboa and Beyond - April & May 2001
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Thursday, May 03, 2001
By Mary Thomas, Post-Gazette Art Critic
One way for an artist to stay interested and interesting
is to accept new challenges. Well-known and widely exhibited Pittsburgh artist
Aaronel de Roy Gruber has never been one to stagnate, and when the Michael
Berger Gallery suggested photographing several European architectural sites,
she set to work.
The result is "Aaronel's Architour: Bilbao
and Beyond" at the Shadyside gallery, an exploration of Frank Gehry's
famed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the organically expressive buildings
of the late Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona, among others.
Finding fresh ways to present icons is not an easy
task, and Gruber combined her signature stylistic elements -- infrared film,
wide angle views, narrowed compositional configurations -- with a more painterly
than usual toning application (assisted by her printer, photographer John
Fobes) to overlay her vision upon the familiar shapes.
Rainy days in Bilbao added atmosphere and extra
luster to Gehry's already shimmering structure. Neutralizing Gaudi's vibrant
pockets of applied color gave added significance to his curvy forms.
In the most exotic interpretations, the museum
floats ephemerally within a blush of sunrise colors, and an ornate "Gaudi
Window" recedes into pattern reminiscent of a Moorish tile.
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