Publication: Journal Santa Fe Section; Date: Jun 18, 2010; Section: Gallery Guide; Page: S8

LIGHT

at the edge of darkness Study in contrasts features savage ‘Trophy Room’ surrounded by filigreed paper pieces History Is Not Past

MALIN WILSON-POWELL

For the Journal

James Drake’s work is BIG, passionate, and reaches for the viscera and the heart. His current exhibition at Dwight Hackett’s former foundryis a study in contrasts. Fragile, creamy hand-cut paper surrounds a heavy steel “Trophy Room.” The thoughtful reflection and civilized finesseof the paper pieces offsets the savage, brutal blood lust of the metal chamber of horrors. And the nuanced play of light and airy strokes of thepencil are juxtaposed with clunky ersatz weapons for bleeding animals of prey.

What is it about West Texas? Drake is among a generation of artists from that unforgiving terrain who are in a league of their own. Theycombine toughness and tenderness with mountains of talent, ambition and hard work. Versatile, accomplished and apparently fearless, theyinclude Terry Allen, the late Luis Jimenez and Ken Little. Each of their studios is full of industrial-grade tools for wrangling larger-than-lifestuff; and each of them draws like an angel.

Although Drake was born in Lubbock in 1946 and would return there for a brief time during high school, he lived in Guatemala from the ageof 2 until 12, speaking Spanish as his first language. He finished high school in El Paso and, as unlikely as it may seem, launched a nationaland international reputation from that border town.

Drake’s allegorical metal sculptures first came to the attention of the New Mexico arts community in the early 1980s via reviews of Texassculpture exhibitions in the Albuquerque-based Artspace magazine, first showing in Santa Fe at the then-Museum of Fine Arts 1986 exhibition“Personal Environments.”

The black heart of the Hackett installation, the 1982 “Trophy Room,” is one of those early environments, among the most complex andmassive steel chambers (of a half-dozen) he has constructed. Previously displayed nationwide in six museums, the “Trophy Room,” in its theHackett gallery iteration, is surrounded for the first time by recent hand-cut filigreed works on paper, a juxtaposition that is particularlyresonant.

The “Trophy Room” has a studied, bristling crudeness. The edges and welds of its construction remain as records of cuts, thrusts and raisedhardened scars. The room is an agglomeration of all things sharp or deadly — knifes, swords, crossbows, arrows and guns — for the killing ofanimals who are also sporting their own sharp or deadly horns, talons and fangs. The room is not only an apt metaphor for living during anera of perpetual war, but clearly has roots in the country of West Texas Drake’s birthright. Cultural critic Dave Hickey, also a native of thesame harsh place — where everything bites back — remarked in a Santa Fe lecture that nature there is best characterized as addressinghumans with, “Yum, yum, here comes dinner.” This is in marked contrast to the popular promotion of nature as nurturing mother.

Perhaps the most haunting object in this installation is the sculpture of crossed glass knifes resting in a glass urn partially filled with water.Titled “Valley of the World,” 1989, it was made while Drake was in a residency at Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle where he worked with glassmaestro Lino Tagliapietra. Crossed knives are traditional symbols of honor or victory. The fragility of Drake’s medium, the transparency andelegance of the forms, are a perfect bridge to Drake’s enveloping Rococo-inflected drawings. While the steel room seems impervious to timeand destruction, glass, paper and water need caretakers, guardians who cherish and vigilantly preserve them.

Drawing is certainly one of Drake’s strengths and may be the practice he is most known for worldwide. But he seems to be a master of everymedium he uses. I have followed his work since his powerful “Tongue-cut Sparrows” video projection, the highlight for me of the 1996Conceal/Reveal group exhibition at SITE Santa Fe. “Tongue-cut Sparrows” was a multiyear, multimedia project that Drake developed through2007 that includes monumental drawings of hand gestures and still photographs of expectant faces with text panel translations. The seriesfocused on capturing the intensely communicative body and sign language invented by families and lovers who stand in the street gesturingto convicts at the El Paso County Detention Facility.

In Drake’s recent large creamy paper pieces at Hackett, the artist conjures the lightness of being at Versailles. Delicate figures emerging fromthe cream and Rococo flourishes of his pencil are hand-cut into ornate plays of light and shadow. A few have words: “Communicate” is printedbackward as if read in a mirror; “Spoiled” as if looking in a mirror. This decorative motif of arabesques incorporating S-swirls, C-curves andvolutes, once thought to be the most frivolous of styles, is playful and dominant here. The fragile and decorative wins, hands down, inseducing our attention away from the brutality of the “Trophy Room.”

In a handsome 2008 monograph published by the University of Texas Press, Drake’s desire is summed up by his hope for “humanity toovercome helplessness.” In this poignant exhibition, Drake walks the walk. It’s refreshing to see an artist aim so high, wide, and deadon.

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If you go

WHAT: James Drake

WHERE: DWIGHT HACKETT projects, 2879 All Trades Road

WHEN: Through July 3. Gallery hours: Wednesday-Saturday from 12-5 p.m. and by appointment

CONTACT: 505.474.4043 or info@dwighthackett. com

“Spoiled” is a 2010 graphite, tape and hand-cut paper piece by James Drake.

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COURTESY DWIGHT HACKETT PROJECTS

“Valley of the World” is a 1989 glass and water sculpture by James Drake.

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An installation photo shows James Drake sitting in his 1982 “Trophy Room,” a steel chamber bristling with all things sharp and deadly.

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