Season's Preview- Visual Arts

Kinetic Energy
Art meets science in the eye-popping works of Hungarian-born Victor Vasarely, the founder of Op Art and the subject of a retrospective at the Naples Museum of Art opening Nov. 2 and running through April 3.

For some, the bright colors and geometric optical illusions of Vasarely, who died in 1997, may recall the psychedelic days of the '60s. But Vasarely, a onetime medical student who later turned to the functionalist principles of Budapest's own Bauhaus movement, was anything but free-spirited in the approach he took to his art.

On the contrary, the complex patterns of Vasarely's paintings, prints and sculptures were carefully thought out according to his studies of how the eye works to create depth, motion and a sense of vibration. And his writings on the subject defined the philosophy of Op Art, or kinetic art, for generations of artists after him.

"There hasn't been a retrospective of his work in the United States for 13 years," says Naples Museum chairman and CEO Myra Daniels. "It's time to reassess his work, to see the place he holds in 20th-century art."

The museum has worked with Vasarely's daughter-in-law, Michèle, and curator Louis Rojas to bring together a wide range of the long-lived artist's works, some from private collections and others on loan from the Guggenheim, other museums and the Albright-Knox Gallery. Daniels says that Michèle has worked fiercely to bring renewed attention to Vasarely's achievements, enduring a lengthy legal battle for control of his artworks after the former manager of the Vasarely Foundation was accused of breach of trust involving both missing paintings and missing funds.

"I first became acquainted with Michèle two years ago," says Daniels, "when she invited me to her home in Chicago to view her Vasarely paintings. Some of them just knocked my eyes out. I've always thought of Vasarely as a visionary, a man ahead of his time; but at one point he had overpopulated the art world with his pieces. His designs were showing up on jewelry, textiles and shoes." As the post-modernism wave of the late 1970s hit, the tide turned against Op Art.

Now, as so often happens in the art world, a once-unfashionable movement is ripe for a fresh look. The museum, with New York art book publisher George Braziller, is presenting a catalogue written by Robert C. Morgan in conjunction with the exhibition; Michèle Vasarely and Rojas will speak about Vasarely's work when the show opens.

Daniels says that the exhibition, Victor Vasarely: The Founder of Op Art, is "very important to us, because it follows that modern period we, the museum, own." Because it will most likely not travel elsewhere (the museum hasn't enough staff to oversee its installation elsewhere), this is the one chance for Vasarely admirers to-ahem-get an eyeful.
-Kay Kipling
For information, call 597-1900.

Coming Attractions
The Naples Museum of Art has some other intriguing shows this season. Those who remember Joyce Tenneson's photos of Wise Women two seasons ago will turn to her Amazing Men this time around (Nov. 2-Jan. 30), including photographic portraits of Ben Kingsley, Rudolph Giuliani, James Earl Jones and B.B. King. But the women aren't being ignored this season; American Women: A Selection from the National Portrait Gallery (Jan. 7-April 3) offers portraits of such figures as Susan B. Anthony, Marilyn Monroe and Amelia Earhart, done in a variety of media. A significant exhibition from the Baltimore Museum of Art, Matisse, Picasso & Friends: Impressionism to Surrealism, includes 49 paintings and sculptures, with works by Gauguin, Cézanne, Max Ernst and many others on view, Feb. 4-May 1. And the somewhat avant-garde Skin Tight: The Sensibility of the Flesh presents clothing and accessory designs from the new generation of Italians, April 17-July 31.

At the von Liebig Art Center, the season offers an exhibition of circle collage by Josette Urso (Jan. 8-Feb. 27) and a large-scale mixed media installation by Sandy Winters (April 30-June 11), in addition to exhibitions by members of the Naples Art Association and a Richard Segalman retrospective .. The Alliance for the Arts in Lee County presents a two- and three-dimensional juried All Florida exhibition Feb. 4-March 5.. Among the arts festivals in the area this season: the Naples National Art Festival in Cambier Park, Feb. 26 and 27.the Bonita Springs National Arts Festival, Jan. 15-16 and March 12-13.and ArtFest Fort Myers, along Edwards Drive in downtown Fort Myers, Feb. 26-27.

Introducing
This month, Naples art dealers Stephanie Davis Sherman and Richard Keil Sherman will announce the new location of their gallery, Davis/Keil. After three years on downtown Fifth Avenue South, the couple decided they wanted a larger space to show more work and to be able to focus completely on their clients, undistracted by casual foot traffic.

"What excites us," says Stephanie, is to be part of "evolving into what the new Naples will be." Davis/Keil will continue to sell work by all the big names in the art world, including Josef Albers, Louise Bourgeois, John Chamberlain, Helen Frankenthaler and Andy Warhol. Look for shows with Robert Motherwell and Donald Sultan in the coming months.

Richard, 40, and Stephanie, 31, are originally from Missouri. Richard, who has worked as a stand-up comic, says he "started dating Stephanie when she was an embryo"; but they actually met in St. Louis on his 30th birthday. The couple, married 10 years now, lived in Los Angeles for a time, where Stephanie worked for the L.A. Louver Gallery and Richard was a writer for comics such as Roseanne Barr. They moved to Naples in part to be closer to Richard's parents. Now that they have a young son, Eli, they're happy to be in a "small and vibrant community" and to have enough time to spend with him.

The Shermans work full-time in the gallery when they're not traveling to look at art. Stephanie does the curating while Richard focuses on the selling. Stephanie has also become involved here as a board member of arts organizations, such as the United Arts Council, while Richard keeps busy with his current writing project, a light comedy for Miramax. They're well connected in the art world beyond Collier County, so look for these two dynamos to bring some of the cutting-edge art of New York, London and Los Angeles to Naples.
-Mark Ormond