Artist showcases works inspired by everyday people
Their big, sad eyes stare at you through thin panes of glass. They are trapped inside of simple wooden frames, but their emotions are real.
They are sinners. They are saints. They are the people you pass on the street every day and the people you never want to meet in your life.
The figures depicted in “Anxious Visions: The Art of Michael Northuis,” on display through April 7 in Gallery 15 at the Columbia Museum of Art, are extraordinarily lifelike, even though the artist’s style is more cartoonish and modern than the masters of realism.
With their jagged teeth and fearful expressions, Northuis’ main characters are so human that you feel as if they could jump out of the artist’s paintings and drawings to shake your hand or play you a song.
Northuis’ subjects walk the line between fantasy and reality. The people in his collection range from updated religious icons to nude, waifish women, from wild-eyed children to beggars and runaways. While the works on display are created on a few different mediums, the muted color palette and the expressions on their faces remain constant, whether painted or sketched.
“Hitchhikers,” a 2011 oil painting on panel, depicts a man and his dog trying to hitch a ride on the side of a nearly empty road at dusk. He’s lost, but it’s unclear where he’s heading and what he’s looking for.
“Banjo and Recorder” shows a shirtless man plucking on the bluegrass instrument while a sickly thin woman clad only in undergarments accompanies him on the horn. Should viewers want to shun and ignore them, or stand by for a while to listen to their melody and toss a few coins at their feet?
“The Rising of Lazarus” portrays the biblical figure in a more modern light, coming back to life amid a revival meeting, where women raise their hands to heaven and others sound their praises on tambourines and other instruments. They fear God, but they also rejoice in His marvelous deeds.
In the show’s catalog, Northuis describes his work as an “open-ended experiment,” an accurate statement. It is up to the viewers to create each subject’s backstory and to judge whether Northuis’ creations have good or bad intentions. A different perspective could shed a blissful, rather than sinister, light on the figures.
Northuis’ work requires more than just a passing glance. Its subjects are richly complex, and each visit to their world may result in a new appreciation of their lives.
Admission to the exhibit is included with regular admission to the museum, which is $5 for students, $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens and military. Admission to the exhibit is free on Sundays through a partnership with BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.