MULLEN at LINDSAY. LIZ AT COMFEST.

HURRY, hurry, hurry! Better than coney islands and as hot as electronic rock at COMFEST, KARL MULLEN'S Outsider paintings will shimmy on the walls at Lindsay Gallery 986 North High, at least thru July 4 and maybe longer.


The soft spoken artist hails from Dublin -- not Dublin Ohio -- and is now a resident of Pittsburg where he has been honored by several major awards and grants. Luckily for us, his unusual paintings visit Lindsay Gallery once in a while, once in a green moon I am tempted to say.


For twenty years Mullen has shown in Canada, Ireland and the U.K, and his weird dreamlike paintings -- yes,they are representative -- and narrative -- often present crudely drawn personae. Like, like leprechauns and -- first graders' drawings! The guy knows literature and old books; sometimes his odd figures appear against pages of ancient tomes. He says his dreams are important to him -- I asked him -- and if you like, off beat skilled and original. KARL MULLEN is the guy! (he uses, or he has been known to employ, such weird "media" as lamp soot, walnut oil, street soot, sumi ink, you name it.) His musical band has just the right poom and oom, we hope he comes back soon. Go, see, buy!


P.S. I'll be reading with some terrific poets on Saturday night -- check the schedule -- at COMFEST, I think in the Arts Tent. Check the schedule. It's almost midnight and my eyes are giving out! -- Visit Lindsay Gallery and see Karl Mullens "Primitive", "Dream Like" art He's a quiet, one man COMFEST!!

JUNE 2009 BUSTS OUT WITH ART!

FIRST DAY for the COLUMBUS ARTS FESTIVAL, this time near the one, the only Columbus Museum of Art!--I'm going down there tonight because Thursday is always a special night,and George Tooker will be there! (I hope we're brave enough to negotiate that Arts Festival traffic!)

MICHAEL BAUZA PhD.,will read his poetry at AREOPAGITICA BOOKS at 7:30pm on June 26 He'll read WORD MUSIC! (my title.) Bauza's newest work is based, or rather undergirded, by his attentive love for chamber music, -- even though much of his writing is not ABOUT chamber music! The writer holds a PhD in chemistry and works at Chemical Abstracts. This should be a sophisticated and unusual evening. There is always an open reading at AREO, 3510 N. High, and the imposing ghost of JOHN MILTON is usually hovering around the stacks, and the literary canine, Townsend, keeps watch on the readings and readers.




MORE THAN ARTSPARKS: TAMARA JAEGER's tall, unusual, and pleasingly wacky wood sculptures -- SELECTED ASSEMBLAGES -- will show at the impeccably lovely KENY GALLERY, 300 East Beck, thru JUNE 26. This show is a don't miss because it is substantial and quite unusual. -- Walking thru the exhibit this writer felt that she was wandering in a dream forest where she met characters from fantastical fairy tale books!! Many of the assemblages are taller than real people, and their flat wooden bodies have been painted in flat primary colors -- which are never dull, even when they don't shine!



















JULIA McLEMORE's RECENT FLORAL PHOTOGRAMS are an absolute delight! These BIG flowers, and parts of flowers, are -- well, mind blowing, in that their design and color come straight from the natural world! McLemores artist's statement generously explains her process, but not the surprise that her works give to beholders. McLemore's work, with Jaeger's, will be on exhibit at KENY thru June 26. More information and images at www.kenygalleries.com



ERNEST LOCKRIDGE is a painters' painter. That is, he is agile at painting technique! -- Yet,the end results are not at all conventional. Color and imagination are the wellsprings of his work! Lockridge's CONVERGENCE shows at the CCPBA Gallery at European Papers, 539 East Town Street, until August 29.















The exhibit includes two large and striking images of Monarch butterflies who pause and fly with accuracy and elan! They're big! They're identifiable at a distance, and they remind us that we,as earthlings, stand at a "convergence" at which earth is in peril. (My interpretation.) Lockridge is a retired professor of literature; he taught at Yale and at the Ohio State University. The titles of his paintings reveal the liveliness and the variety of subjects of his paintings,some of which are rich with glimpses of a trip to Iceland.

TITLES: Aphrodite; The River Goddess, Boann; Force of Nature; Penelope; Saffron Robe; Proteus Rising from the Sea. -- You can find more images and info at www.ernestlockridge.net. I believe Lockridge's reputation as an artist will grow as time passes. He is original and his work has substance.

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