Looking at Gene Cooper's paintings at Alex Bult Gallery is a little like playing TV's "Jeopardy." The category is Art and Artists. and the clues are visual.
In one painting, a famous artist is placed against a background of blown-up hatch marks. On the table in front of him is a Savarin coffee can full of paintbrushes. If you were playing "Jeopardy," your response would be "Who is Jasper Johns?" And you would be right.
Cooper, an art historian who took up painting several years ago, pays tribute to artistic heroes including Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Max Beckmann and Edward Hopper in charmingly constructed paintings that test your knowledge of art history.
You recognize the dashing figure of John Singer Sargent by the inclusion of his famous painting of a pinafore-clad girl leaning against a giant Oriental vase. His Mondrian is based on a famous photo of the artist making strange hand gestures in front of markings reminiscent of his early works.
One of the most delightful is an image of Giorgio Morandi that incorporates his landscape paintings and a still life based on his arrangements of small vessels and containers. Morandi himself, a modest and introverted man, sits low in the canvas peering up inquisitively at something off to the side.
For those less familiar with the intricacies of art history, the gallery has provided a cheat sheet in the form of a price list with titles. But try the guessing game first.
According to Webster
An element of mystery also imbues Mary Hull Webster's exhibition at b. sakata garo. Here you will find the enigmatic figures of a woman named Lucia and a man named Hugo going through a number of permutations in a variety of media.
The most striking are large light boxes with images of the glowing Lucia shrouded in darkness and Hugo dressed up as a kind of wizard or mage. A statement accompanying the show explains that Lucia is a state of mind, a shape-shifting woman who represents a kind of Jungian anima figure, while Hugo is Hugo Ball, a young founder of the Dada movement which was a reaction to the senselessness of World War I.
The two appear repeatedly in Webster's work, which references, in addition to Jung, Tibetan Buddhism, Gnosticism and alchemical traditions. The work is hermetic but not exclusionary, as are a series of tablelike light boxes set on the floor in which symbols such as quatrefoils and objects including smooth stones are arranged in abstract compositions.
More mysterious are groupings of piles of beautifully wrapped packages. Some bear words – "dreams, dies, distortions," for example – and all suggest gifts, though their contents are unknowable.
Webster also presents the works of three artist friends – Mary Mountcastle Eubank, Zea Morvitz, and Louise Pryor – who also deal with alchemical and hermetic imagery in the form of artists' books, many of which are visually rich and laden with mystical overtones.
Their presence makes this exhibit feel a bit unfocused and cluttered. Still, it's a richly nourishing show both visually and intellectually.
GENE COOPER PAINTINGS
What: A Southern California native, Cooper plays a clever game of visual "Jeopardy" that teases a smile – and a great deal of appreciation – out of his audience.
Where: Alex Bult Gallery, 1114 21st St., Suite B, Sacramento
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through March 3
Cost: Free
Contact: (916) 476-5540, www.alexbultgallery.com
MARY HULL WEBSTER AND FRIENDS
What: Led by a Jungian anima and Dada founder Hugo Ball, probe the unconscious mind and philosophical beliefs in Webster's exhibit.
Where: b. sakata garo, 923 20th St., Sacramento
When: Noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through March 3
Cost: Free
Contact: (916) 447-4276, www.bsakatagaro.comARTFor more on events sacbee.com/calendar
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