Riverside / Helene J. Kosher
New sculpture by James Croak, a Chicago transplant to Los Angeles, includes five large scale pieces, two in the foyer of the Riverside Art Center and Museum, three in the main gallery and a case of small (8’’) wood maquettes. Some of the maquettes are based on nature – earth, river and sea. The five large pieces are constructed of 1/8’’ aluminum which has been cut in a combination of geometric and curvilinear forms, then welded, further shaped and finally painted with thirty to forty coats of vivid enamel. On some works areas of this finish have been sanded away to reveal layers of swirled colors.
Modern Emotion, perhaps the largest piece (71/2’ x 15’ x 81/2’, four-and-a-half months in the making), typifies the importance of negative space in Croak’s sculpture and the prevalence of diagonal forms suggesting motion. Involvement with surface decoration is apparent in all the works except one untitled piece in flat black which is created primarily of curved shapes containing a vast space and reminiscent of a treble clef lying on its side. This symbol echoes not only Croak’s classical guitar background, but also his concern for landscape relative to sociological and ecological systems. Most viewers want to touch both Modern Emotion, which weighs about 900 pounds, and Untitled; others crawl through them. They seem amazed at the construction, light weight, springiness and rhythmic motion of these pieces. Croak has remarked that "a piece is never really completed until someone is moved by it."
Croak’s color derives from the neon signs of nighttime downtown Los Angeles where he lives and has his studio in an historic fire station – hence the title of these new works, Fire Station Series. His consummate skill in the construction of the works is no accident. While serving as a visiting artist at Wichita, he toured an airplane factory to observe cutting and fabrication techniques.
The other three pieces, not quite as large, are more stationary. Homage to Villa-Lobos, geometric forms painted solid red and viridian green and juxtaposed with curved silver forms, reminds one of colors often seen in textiles of Villa-Lobos’ native Brazil. Nearly Normal, one of this writer’s favorites, has a surface dappled by sanded-away spots that invite close inspection. Negative space balances positive, yet the tension between form and surface seems perfectly resolved. Jacaranda’s Place, named for a downtown club, is wildly painted in garish colors, geometric, low to the ground with the sharp intrusion of a wedgelike form, the combination expressing a new wave, punk esthetic.'
Appreciation of Croak’s work is broadened by an contemporary art. Discussing Chicago art, New York critic Carrie Rickey recently commented that "the impulse to construct – be it a canvas, sculpture or installation – is endemic" and "the scale of the sculpture is overwhelmingly large." She goes on to say that "the architect is hero in Chicago, and its artists, whether imagists or abstractionists often feel the desire to be constructivists… "She explains the esthetic battle between the two primary schools of influence, one, the new Bauhaus, the other, the surrealists or imagists like James Nutt. Indeed, Croak’s work falls within this constructionist / abstractionist tradition. It also seems to show environmental and sociological connections; environmental in terms of color associated with neon and the hustle-bustle downtown culture, full of emotion and eccentric behavior. Sociological connections appear in the artist’s interest in the study of cultures or subcultures, a pursuit that was integral to his development while he was a member of the Institute of Cultural Affairs in Chicago, and one that continues today. The Untitled piece on view symbolically alludes to more than just musical references. Its spiral form can be observed in many things, from nature to such postmodernist sculpture as Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Could it be a coincidence that Smithson once made a sketch on the cover of a publication written by Croak, titled Resurgence, which Croak later saw reproduced in an article by Lawrence Alloway on Smithson in 1973?
Given all of these connections, one can understand the artist’s concerns: the expression of emotion through a synthesis of lush abstract expressionist painting with formalist abstract sculpture. Modern life, for most people, could be typified by the fragmentation evident in these words, especially in Modern Emotion. Croak wants us to feel something, and seems to accomplish his goal. Surely more of this sculptor’s work should be available to Los Angeles viewers. Although Riverside may be a bit far, the Art Center and Museum, built by Julia Morgan, has undergone recent renovation and promises an active exhibition program.