VOELZ CHANDLER: Eclectic exhibit benefits from center's expansion

Published September 14, 2007 at midnight

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COLORADO SPRINGS - Whoever titled the sweeping exhibition of contemporary art from the Frederick R. Weisman collection "The Eclectic Eye" hit it right on the money.

This show designed to inaugurate the new traveling exhibition galleries at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center includes classics, from Joseph Cornell to James Rosenquist. And a lot of Pop Art, making the subtitle "Pop and Illusion" appropriate, too. Plus, as expected in a trove amassed by a California-based collector, the 150 works on view include a fair number of artists who may be unfamiliar to a broader audience.

Just as "The Eclectic Eye" demonstrates the flexibility of the 20,000-square- feet of space on the second floor, reinstallation of the permanent collection on the first floor shows off the strong points of the center's holdings in several areas.

In short, the addition that opened in August, designed by David Owen Tryba Architects, offers beautiful spaces to view art, whether the more traditional Western pieces in "Colorado Sublime," or the numerous glass sculptures (and bright orange chandelier) the center acquired from artist Dale Chihuly, or the adventurous and provocative pieces from Weisman. It helps that the detailing is pristine, and the flow simple and direct.

The expansion melds a new wing with the respected 1936 building designed by John Gaw Meem, but it also makes a connection inside by linking the old central El Pomar Corridor with an extension marked by glass walls and terrazzo flooring designed to match the original.

The expansion, which boosted the center to 132,000 square feet from about 88,300, also offers clear access to both the floor devoted to the permanent collection as well as a grand staircase to the traveling galleries.

In "Eclectic," organized with a fair amount of wit by the late collector's wife, Billie Milam Weisman, the overall effect is, fittingly, a little bit of everything. At the head of the staircase is Tony Tasset's 2001 sculpture Big Eye, an ambiguous comment on ego, identity and humor.

By the time a viewer has reached the end of the road, several galleries later, the conclusion comes with a carved bristle exclamation point in bright green by Richard Artschwager.

In between, a Cornell box hangs above Duane Hansen's 1988 hyperrealistic Executive on Telephone, a representation of Weisman's father William. One space includes work by Donald Judd and Ellsworth Kelly, with Robert Irwin next door. And there is plenty of Warhol, Rosenquist and a fine Keith Haring.

Meanwhile, the first floor is centered by a corridor showcasing contemporary work by artists such as Chuck Forsman and Sushe Felix. Doors off that spine lead to the Loo collection gallery, historic work (including John Singer Sargent's Miss Elsie Palmer), photography (from Laura Gilpin to John Waters), the broadly defined "Hispanoamérica" gallery, and American Indian textiles and baskets paired with Chihuly baskets-in-glass.

One of the odd bits of fallout from the center's expansion is the resignation of president and CEO Michael De Marsche, announced five days after the opening and effective Sept. 1.

De Marsche, who came to the Springs after building a museum at Auburn University, obviously likes the challenge of taking an institution, shaking it up and making it new. So he is off to Yerevan, Armenia, to help U.S.-born philanthropist and collector Gerard L. Cafesjian build the Gerard L. Cafesjian Museum of Art.

It's an understatement to say De Marsche will be missed. But what he's left behind will bear witness to the riches of the center. Here's hoping the next director takes that to heart.

The Eclectic Eye: Pop and Illusion

• What: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation; with a reinstallation of work from the permanent collection, as well as "Colorado Sublime: The Katherine and Dusty Loo Collection," work gifted recently by the collectors.

• Where and when: Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St.; through Oct. 28

• Information: 1-719-634-5581; csfineartscenter.org

The Medal Is the Message

• What: Exhibition of medallic art and hand-held sculptures, in conjunction with the Art Medal World Congress held by the International Medal Federation (FIDEM)

• When and where: Opens 4 to 9 p.m. Sept. 21 at the American Numismatic Association's Money Museum, 818 N. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs. Artist Otakar Dusek speaks at 5:45 p.m. at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center next door. Reservations and donation ($25) suggested for the event. The exhibition continues through May 2008; the congress meets Wednesday through Sept. 22.

• Something completely different: It's been 20 years since the federation met in the U.S., and it's clear most of the 1,400 pieces hail from elsewhere. The works may begin in the form of familiar-style medals: round metal pieces with text and image on both sides. Here, though, artists experiment with material, size and shape to create medals better described as "hand-held sculpture."

• Of note: A section of works by artists age 70-plus marks the federation's 70th year, showing the influence of modernist design.

• Information: 719-632-2646; money.org

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