Zando-Dennis Goes Primitive

Alan Lane, a self-described collage artist from Pendelton, epitomizes the art world with one swift thought.

"Art is like wine, and everyone has their own taste," he said.

The opening of artist Ghen Zando-Dennis's latest work was on display at the Carnegie Art Center Gallery in North Tonawanda on Saturday. Ten of her drawings are currently on display.

The art definitely had a particular style as numerous themes could be found in the work. Elements of circles, childhood, written text and film frames were all prevalent in the drawings. A great deal of Zendo-Dennis' work had words scribbled in many directions on top of the pictorial representations. Additionally, in more than one drawing, instead of actually drawing something in, she would simply write "insert yellow here" or "insert _____ here" right on the canvas.

The majority of the drawings are in pencil and oil on either paper or wood backgrounds; all are abstract in nature. The artist draws her impressions of events and sounds rather than concerning herself with realistic renderings.

Zando-Dennis explained that she has been an artist for 20 years, and received her education in the arts attending graduate school at UB. She describes herself as an "experimental documentary" artist and is concerned mainly with film and narrative sequence.

"The piece 'Alexander Kluge Predicts the Black War' best illustrates cinema sequence and narrative," she said when asked which piece was her favorite. The piece was four strips rectangular of paper representing the frames in a scribbled sequence of abstract events.

Many of the people viewing the art gave their opinions of the work. Rita Auerbach of Kenmore commented on the artist's use of space and simply described the work as "ballsy."

"I like it. It's childlike, primitive, really nice," said Cathy Pardike of East Aurora.

One of the largest paintings in the room was almost entirely scribbled text on canvas. Words and thoughts were sporadically placed so that each observer might read something completely different in the words. The piece seemed to be a critique of literature and possibly the limits of written language. The words concealed drawing that seemed to want to escape from beneath the limiting text.

"Large Dung, Balls, and Dirt" drawn with oil, pencil and varnish on wood was particularly fascinating. The painting looked like something that might be seen in the form of graffiti in the closet of a young girl. Words from the title, "Dung, Balls, and Dirt" had been smeared into the brown varnish at the top of the painting.

There was a pink square to the left with a coat hanger drawn on it with the words "Take your pants off" were written beneath - hinting at something the girl may have heard from an abusive father. There is also a white square section with the words "White horse without a rider," beneath that could be interpreted as a need for a strong male figure in the fictitious little girl's life.

The Ghen Zando-Dennis exhibit will be on display at the Carnegie Art Center until Oct. 18.