The Sacramento Temporary Contemporary, now in a terrific space on Del Paso Boulevard that used to house the Michael Himovitz Gallery, has upped the ante for other area galleries with a blockbuster show.
This monthlong offering – five shows by both established and emerging artists – is one of the strongest I've seen this year and is up through June 4.
In the main gallery, former Sacramentan David King presents a powerful group of totemic sculptures that take their inspiration from African tribal art.
Done between 1990 and 1999, they have the kind of surfaces that characterize real African ceremonial sculptures. Blistered, scraped and coated with ritual offerings, genuine African pieces – not those made for the tourist trade – have great presence and spirit. Those qualities are also evident in King's sculptures.
"S-47" is a towering, treelike figure that resembles an ancient relic, an object of worship and ritual. A raffia fringe sets off the phallic head of the piece, and the rootlike toes of the figure seem to spring from the earth.
"Fetish Stupa" and "Power Fetish Hammer" reference African nail fetishes while also wittily paying homage to the tools of a carpenter. These elegant, primal pieces are coated with the patina of age and use.
"Celestial Boat" calls up associations with Viking ships, the tall mast of the boat bearing a sharp spadelike appendage, again referring to tool making. "Arctic Monolith and "Yukon Sentinel" make one think of Eskimo art and the work of Northwest coastal Indians.
A surreal sense of humor is apparent in "Grub Dreaming of the Wet," a dumb serpentine form that looms up and bends over as if seeking moisture. Wittily surreal, too, is "Guileless Muse," a basket-work totem that terminates in a cross between a lady's hat and a lampshade.
King, who has lived and taught in the Bay Area for a number of years, makes a welcome return to Sacramento in this stunning show.
King's wife, Melani McKim, shows a series of meticulous renderings based on 19th century photographs with unsettling texts above and below the images. "Murder/Suicide" read the legends under a drawing of a somber young woman. Other images are labeled "Friend/Enemy" and "Virgin/ Whore," pointing up the impenetrable nature of these photos of ancestors with ambiguous fixed expressions we cannot really know.
McKim also shows some marvelous small paintings in oil on board, among them a self-portrait with her husband sitting at a table with a still life. It's a wonderful painting, reminiscent of Northern Renaissance painters such as Petrus Christus and Hans Memling, that lingers in the mind long after the show.
Leading into the King-McKim display are two equally strong shows. Ellen Van Fleet, who is best known for her abstract paintings, offers a series of delicate watercolors based on her travels in Africa, Australia and Mexico.
She captures the movement of elephants and camels in raw, direct paintings that have an extraordinary tenderness. A painting of tree limbs in Australia is wonderfully plain, while the Mayan decorations on a Mexican wall are intricately involved. Van Fleet seems to have made a direct contact with all of her subjects, and the results are heartening.
Peter Stegall, who is one of the area's premier abstract painters, offers a charming series of tableaux made of gloss enamel, wood and cardboard. Titled "Cactus Pete's Kardboard Karavan," these little scenarios – cactus forests, a mountain bike on a sunny day, a car of the future – are endearingly comical and, as is always the case with Stegall, beautifully crafted. Accompanying them are a number of small stripe paintings, including the electrically luminous "Value Judgements," and small constructions that have the visual vigor of Amish quilts.
"Looking Back, Looking Forward," a group show curated by Robert Ray, fills the back room of the gallery. There are some outstanding works here by lesser-known artists, among them Pablo Galvan, Toni Clark, Sandy Parris and Barry Sakata, who trades his gallery-owner hat for a sculptor's with a winsome cardboard construction of a man with his arms raised.
In addition to presenting strong shows, the Temporary Contemporary's website features a lively art blog by former Bee critic Charles Johnson and podcasts of his interviews with artists who are showing there. Johnson is a witty and thought-provoking writer who adds immeasurably to the critical dialogue about Sacramento art.
FIVE SHOWS, BLOCKBUSTER IMPACT
WHAT: This multiple-artist offering ranks as one of the strongest gallery displays Bee art critic Victoria Dalkey has seen this year. There are works by David King, Melani McKim, Ellen Van Fleet, Peter Stegall – and the "Looking Back, Looking Forward" group show.
WHERE: Sacramento Temporary Contemporary, 1616 Del Paso Blvd.
HOURS: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, through June 4
COST: Free
INFORMATION: (916) 921-1224, www.stcgallery.webs.com
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