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Exhibit of drawings too diverse for its own good

By Heather Castro Contributing Art Critic

Appearances can be deceiving in art. Whether it involves medium or technique, a little play of surface or application can turn an ordinary work into something surprising, forcing the viewer to regard the innocuous in a new light.

For tonight's Fourth Friday attendees, a surprise comes immediately upon stepping into the Lexington Art League's Loudoun House Gallery, with its Gothic architecture, in the über-contemporary artworks within. Involving a basic artistic technique, the current exhibit, Wall-to-Wall, is composed around the notion of exploring the multiple definitions of drawing. Though challenging and somewhat unstable, the ­exhibit ultimately accomplishes its goal of opening the viewer's eyes to the vastly different meanings and uses of the artistic technique.

”Drawing is so often thought of as a preliminary step,“ says Mike Deetsch, visual arts director for the art league. ”I know that artists have ­drawings as completed art projects. I wanted to present these ­traditional materials — ­graphite, marker and paper — and take them outside what we normally see them as.“

From the first cave paintings, drawing has been emblematic and representational. The current, contemporary incarnation of drawing is no different.

Upstairs, in the work of Georgetown artist Wendy Currier, representation moves forward into contemporary storytelling.

The Debugging is an ­oversize pen-and-ink done in a three-pane comic book style, showing views of a humanoid figure that is composed of innumerable types of insects.

The panes move from close-up views of the insects, to a view of the creature's face (complete with terrified eyes), to the largest pane, which shows an imminent attack by a figure with a ”bug be gone“ suction device wearing a hazardous ­materials suit. Surrounding the images, like the decorative border around medieval illuminations, are three repeated ­images, further notices of warning: a radiation symbol, exclamation points and a ”no bug“ symbol. The piece both repulses the viewer and evokes his or her empathy in much the same way that a good horror story can, in the end, leave you crying for Frankenstein.

Advancing into more contemporary uses of drawing, Wall-to-Wall showcases word art by Lexington artist Bruce Burris, whose complex interweaving of words and phrases is reminiscent of the rock posters of 1960s San Francisco. The exhibit also explores video art in the rough-stop animation of Ebony Patterson's Murda Pun A Sound Bwoy, which focuses on sound and motion to bring the peaceful, happy vibes to Jamaican Dancehall's abrasive lyrics.

However successful these pieces are, when combined with impermanent wall drawings, traditional framed works, digital printouts, interactive works that involve Post-it notes, and still more examples of new takes on drawing, the exhibit's continual point of ”this is drawing — and so's this, and this and this“ becomes a little overwhelming, creating the ­impression of too much exploration and too little editing.

The diversity of the artworks is extreme, creating a choppy sense within the show. There is little continuity between ­galleries, and should one walk into the show without reading the title or accompanying wall text, it would be easy to assume the exhibit was a group show rather than a themed exhibit.

While the appearance of contemporary art in another ­Lexington gallery is inspiring, and the educational and thought-provoking attitude of the exhibit is stimulating, it lacks cohesion, permitting the wide variety of artworks within Wall-to-Wall to inspire a new title: Room-to-Room.