Instead of showcasing a single artist’s work in the front of the gallery and a group show in the back, Moberg Gallery’s new “Four Solos 1” allocates one-quarter of its prime real estate to each of four artists to use as they please. The exhibit, which runs through July 3, features works by these artists:
- Bart Vargas, whose energetic paintings attempt to subvert the authority of the square. The Council Bluffs resident also is a sculptor, working with trash, surplus and recycled materials to speak to 21st-century consumerism and waste.
- Thomas C. Jackson of Cedar Rapids, who explores American imagery in photographs, drawings and paintings. He often combines two or more images, reflecting what he calls “America’s channel-changing attention span.”
- John Phillip Davis, whose textured paintings prowl the space between control and chaos. A Des Moines native and Grand View University graduate, he recently moved to Missouri.
- Heather Brammeier, who says internal struggles inspire most of her paintings and installations. In her latest, the Illinois artist creates lyrical tangles from red and blue cross-linked polyethylene tubing. The material becomes a metaphor, she says, for the way humans think.
Look for more “Four Solos” shows to come. –Kellye Crocker
