November 23, 2008

There is a lot to like in Dalya Luttwak’s exhibition at the Katzen Center, not the least of which is the Cinderella story: Luttwak is a local Israeli immigrant sculptor, heretofore  relatively little-known, who learned to weld three year ago. She entered a competition for an outdoor sculpture to be installed at AU’s very worthy new addition to major DC arts venues, the Katzen Center. (See my encomium to the Katzen in the spring) She not only won, but was invited by Jack Rasmussen, the Katzen’s director, to install a solo show. This is the kind of story that keeps artists going, so you go, girl.

The exhibit, called “Hidden” is made up of large renderings of root systems, fabricated from steel rods and painted with a patina that does a good job of trompe l’oeuil. What works best, in my view, is the bold scale of the work and its location in the environment. The outdoor concrete vault carved into the ground where the pieces are installed provides a particularly good environment both because the contrast of rough concrete and metal roots is aesthetically provocative and because the interplay of faux roots and faux underground gets you thinking. Or it did me, in any case. I found the large root systems climbing the walls the most dramatic and affecting.

I can’t lie, though. As good as the concept and the execution are, the installation gets repetitive. I’d love to have seen more variation and I look forward to seeing where the artist goes next.