Selected Reviews
Andrew Young
Chicago Tribune, May 25, 2001
- Alan Artner
Collages series (c-78), 1999
Collage of hand-painted papers on museum board, 18.5 x 14 in. |
The series of Andrew Young’s collages at I Space had a considerable effect on his more recent paintings, though the paper works are the more surprising for never quite being what you expect them to be, instead ranging all over the place with evocations both homely and exotic.
Young created the pieces from handmade papers he colored with dry pigment. They include virtually no found materials beyond an occasional postage stamp. Still, many of the 18 of view teem with visual incident the results from purely formal juxtapositions and a kind of recurring personal symbolism. |
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Several pieces have coolly geometric symmetrical patterns that look derived from tile or metal work. But, on the whole, Young does not adhere to such restraint. In fact, he often overlays his grids of stony hue with paintings of flowers, silhouettes of birds, drawings of butterflies and insects, even examples of Eastern calligraphy to give a virtual quilt of rectangular forms and vivid colors.
Some of the works suggest an earlier time, though the means by which Young achieves this carry little nostalgia. However, the fey images of flower, butterfly and bird do suggest the “aesthetic” atmosphere of the late 19th Century, which withholds the collages from appearing contemporary. At its best, this is a delicate postmodern art that shows easy control but, just beneath the surface, a vein of melancholy and longing. |
Collages series (c-35), 1998
Collage of hand painted papers, with found Chinese text and stamps, on museum board, 14.5 x 11.25 in. |