| Durham’s works address the melding of theology and philosophy to create a world in which we are able to evaluate and weigh issues against the scale of reason and logic. The mastery of this technique allows us not to conform to the masses but instead, to understand, rise above, and then influence the masses. This new freedom to evaluate our lives in a state void of emotion and faith is preferable but hardly possible. Our passions are what drive us to achieve the best. These stunning works seem to act as portals into the lives we now know and a projection into that which they can be. |  |
Holly Northup
J. Derrick Durham, Aero No. 2. Acrylic and oil enamel on canvas, 60 x 60 in. Courtesy of the artist.Upon entering the Joan Grona Gallery, where Derrick Durham’s new show is exhibited, I feel myself suddenly transcended into a familiar, yet undiscovered realm. Surrounded by a number of brightly colored paintings contrasted by brilliant white objects, I find myself searching for some intimacy of recognition between myself and the works. In the center of the first piece is what seems to be a pair of airplane wings suspended in an ethereal space of color, juxtaposed next to a large white anamorphous space resembling some type of cloud. At first glance there appears to be a narrative being presented, but it is covertly hidden within the incomplete form of the aeronautics. The arrangement of the pieces creates a world in which the viewer is engulfed and therefore forced to engage in the similarly repeating patterns lining the gallery walls. The negative space between myself and the art seems to tell as much of a story as the pieces themselves. It generates a barrier in which I am held to observe the story as it unfolds before me.
Fully engaged by each individual piece, I am able to create my own narrative, in which I am transported into a new realm of being. My relativity to these works is as though I am reflecting on my life from a spectator’s point of view. It is as though I am thrown into a retrospective of my life and its development, both as a result of and as a member of society. To view my life in a way in which I am able to compare my past and my present with my hopes for the future. I examine my place in society and the effects my environment has had on my ability to adapt to the status quo. The deconstructed wings represent my body and soul caught in the rigidly symmetrical confines of class and expectations. The smooth, precise lines of the wings represent the mask that I wear in society; with the slightly changing juxtaposition of the wings, from painting to painting, externalizing the eternal struggle to find and be oneself in a well defined cultural and social system.
Durham’s steady strokes create long lines radiating from the clouds that move the eye through the piece in a predestined pattern. The perfection of the lines creates an illusion of infallibility in which we are expected to cautiously follow without straying. The vastness of the colored space creates a vacuum through which I feel afraid to travel, keeping me further restricted to my white cell. The ability to adapt and exist within these confines marks my capacity to thrive and succeed in the restricted world that we live in.
Durham’s works address the melding of theology and philosophy to create a world in which we are able to evaluate and weigh issues against the scale of reason and logic. The mastery of this technique allows us not to conform to the masses but instead, to understand, rise above, and then influence the masses. This new freedom to evaluate our lives in a state void of emotion and faith is preferable but hardly possible. Our passions are what drive us to achieve the best. These stunning works seem to act as portals into the lives we now know and a projection into that which they can be.
