Ille Arts Show Evokes Meaningful Themes

The aura of icons and reminiscent of relics
By Jennifer Landes | November 16, 2017 - 11:34am

It is not too much of a stretch to see the latest exhibition at Ille Arts in Amagansett as evocative of the interior of a church or cathedral. Emily Cheng’s “Immensity of Particles,” a group of large and small abstract paintings, have the aura of icons. Marianne Weil’s “After Argos” is a series of glass and bronze sculpture, reminiscent of relics.....

.....Ms. Weil is also engaged in history and her approach also is visually indirect. Her forms are strong and dynamic, with the push and pull of the glass and bronze she uses, but she hints at history and classical mythology in the title of her show, “After Argos.” 

In a cast bronze piece, “Argos Revisited,” metal mesh forms a grid creating frames for positive and negative space. Tiny cubes and tiny orbs form within the squares and extra mesh hangs off the sculpture like a fisherman’s net. Argos is an ancient Peloponnesian town incorporated into Greek mythology, most notably as the birthplace of Perseus, who slayed Medusa.

The pieces, often with titles that appear to be place names, seem like a sculptural postcard of associations and memories. They are placed on pedestals and tabletops, looking both diminutive and substantial. The permeable netting and the solid parts of the work along with the glass, where it exists, set up a yin and yang of hard and soft, positive and negative, the monumental and the unassuming.

The bronze cuffs, frames, and accents are not merely there to set off the glass, but the glass, with its various colors and bubbles, can steal the show. When certain pieces look like they could flow or topple, the implied control and chaos make the works even more compelling.
These shows will remain on view through Nov. 27.