THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509210218
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 26 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mary Ellen Riddle
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Denver Lindley and Glenn Eure have done it again.
The two Outer Banks artists are showing more than a year's worth of work in the third of a series of joint shows. ``MANO A MANO - AGAIN?'' is on display at the Ghost Fleet Gallery in Nags Head through Nov. 29.
The show's title, translated from Spanish to mean ``hand-to-hand,'' is quite a mix, featuring Lindley's oil paintings and drawings, and Eure's prints and paintings.
While built-in contrasts and parallels are expected in a two-person exhibit, here those elements also exist within the individual pieces of the artists.
Both men have an obvious love for drawing and combine that with an appreciation for abstract compositions. Lindley and Eure highlight form, and Eure seduces us with texture.
Lindley's fondness for form is evident in his inclusion of objets d'amour: old fans, a German camera, his father's music box.
Eure shows his love for form by painting on free-form canvases and by painting over objects that actually emboss the canvas or paper. He also uses lines, flat shapes and sensuous textures to create the illusion of three dimensions.
``I really love both visual and textural surfaces,'' Eure said.
There's a subtle lusciousness to his prints, which, like Lindley's work, employ naturalistic colors. The textures are fun and spontaneous.
Also apparent throughout is an ability to draw the human form. Lindley's compositions, interlaced with the objects he loves, create a powerful environment of energy and humanism.
He has a conscientious approach to his work. He does not usually paint to show his work, but was gently pushed into showing by Eure.
``I am at the age where I principally paint for myself,'' Lindley said.
One of his paintings, ``Click,'' reaches back to when he was growing up during World War II.
``I realized when I was painting that that was my childhood,'' Lindley said of the work, which uses a German camera and word play as subject matter.
Lindley's color choices are subtle, but powerful.
``I'm really a value painter,'' he said. ``Color has been sort of a bugaboo to me. I tended to think that color was frivolous, but I began to understand it as a vehicle.''
By using thin washes and then weaving meaningful lines and strokes throughout, Lindley also exposes the essence of his subject matter in the emotional, purely visual and intellectual realms.
At first glance, you may call the work entirely non-representational, but when you distance yourself about eight feet from the canvas, the subject matter stands out clearly from its Lindley-created world.
Both men, in their mid-60s, were formally trained in the arts. They jokingly bill themselves as representing two opposite worlds: Lindley is the Ivy Leaguer, a Yale and Art Students League alumnus, and Eure is the ``Port-o-gee'' from Kaimuki, an East Carolina University graduate in printmaking and a retired military career man.
They share a love for the process of creating art, intellectual curiosity and grand but uniquely different senses of humor. This combination creates a camaraderie whose benefit to the public is evident in the ``MANO A MANO - AGAIN?'' exhibition.
But a better title for this year's presentation would be: ``MANO A MANO - AGAIN!'' based on a friendship from which springs deep artistic expression. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY ELLEN RIDDLE
Denver Lindley,left, and Glenn Eure,'s ``MANO A MANO - AGAIN?'' is
on display at the Ghost Fleet Gallery in Nags Head through Nov. 29.
by CNB