Feb 3, 2008

Gallery celebrates artist's foundational works

Adria Murray / Society Columnist

As the art enclave of Notre Dame de Namur University circled the opening of Wiegand Gallery's latest art show, bystanders were heard describing the abstract black-and-white works as "beefy" and "robust," images that "really confront you."

The featured artist they spoke of was Melissa Meyer, a soft-spoken New Yorker - the show's central juxtaposition.

During an interview at the Jan. 27 champagne brunch gallery benefit, moderated by New York Sun art critic David Cohen, Meyer was asked what she thought of the show that featured a few dozen of her earlier works, created from 1984 to 1994. She sat quietly in her chair, fidgeting with her hands, then answered, "It's OK," and added with a meek smile, "It's good. ... I did very well with this work."

Well-known for her bold, large-scale color abstractions, this exhibit showcased a side of the artist many hadn't seen before and gave insight into Meyer's process, gallery director Robert Poplack said.

Poplack first saw Meyer's work during a trip to New York City in 2003. On a return visit, Poplack was pulled in from the street by one of Meyer's works hanging in a gallery in Chelsea.

"I loved the work," said Poplack, about his immediate interest in featuring Meyer's art at the gallery. "I was blown away by the scale of the work, how powerful it was."

A few of Meyer's public commissioned pieces, as seen in the Shiodome City Center in Tokyo and Queens Hospital Center in New York, range in size from 11 by 60 feet to 40 by 50 feet.

The "Melissa Meyer in Black and White" exhibit, previously shown at New York Studio School, is a collection of privately owned pieces that are "polar opposite" from the art Meyer creates today, exhibit curator and Studio School gallery director Cohen said.

"These (works) are the skeletons, the underpinnings of my current work," Meyer said in agreence.

As an educational institution, Notre Dame's art department and Wiegand Gallery aim to expose students to work from periods of artists' careers that served as foundations to later creative forays.

Taking in the art show and question and answer session were Notre Dame art students Gabriel Ortiz, Robin DeMartine, Issac Wigley, Sulaiman Rochemont, Morghan King and Sarah Martin.

Also enjoying the brunch and art dialogue were art department chairwoman Betty Friedman, University Acting President Judith Maxwell Greig, gallery coordinators Simone Baer and Ellen Howard, and gallery board members Mark and Barbara Lewis.

Speaking about her style of gestural abstraction, Meyer said the exhibit's prints reflected her interest in movement and dance and identification with jazz musicians. Noting the progression of Meyer's work visible in the exhibit's prints, watercolors and pencil drawings, Cohen related how these early works signified a "building dance."

"I think it was Charlie Parker who said, 'There are no wrong notes in jazz,'" Cohen said, "and there are no wrong notes here."

Adria Murray's society column appears every Sunday in the Daily News. Send event information to 324 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94301, or e-mail amurray@dailynews group.com or call 650-327-9090, ext. 328.