“Critical Mass 2,” the invitational group exhibition of Northwest Louisiana artists, opened with a colorful party on the evening of Feb. 13. Seventy-five works filled the upper floor of artspace.

This year, a $2,000 Best in Show award went to Taffie Garsee for her diabolically beautiful drawing, “Greed Weed.” It is a large black-and-white vertical image on parchment filled with earthy biological imagery, weeds, body parts, bugs and plants created out of roiling, writhing lines. A visual morality play, it focuses with purpose and passion on human inequality and mass exploitation. Intelligent and beautiful, it took the top spot.

There is a high degree of accomplishment among the artists of Northern Louisiana. Joe Bluhm’s luscious, illuminated portrait of his dog, Olive, is just a taste of his typically beautiful painting style. Steve Culp’s “Tally Ho,” made of car parts, stands at the entrance of the gallery like a creature wound up to welcome one and all. The elegant form and quiet mood of Alan Dyson’s episodic abstract work on limestone evokes a vast landscape and the passages of day and night. The deft and subtle touch of his brush reveals a meditative spirit and a mature understanding of the power of art.

A wall of portraits allows the viewer to see the variety of approaches taken by Louisiana artists, their human attachments and long memories. “My Father’s Shadow” by La Tonya Jackson, created on wood, is a tribute at once beautiful and heartfelt. “Father Mandela” by Jerry Daveport is noble and serious. A gentle humanism is evoked in Mike Torma’s portrait of his friend, Father Francis.

There is a great deal of psychological exploration in this exhibition. “Revelation of the Divine Dire” by James Marks shows a figure made of wire enmeshed in a wood and wire construction as though caught up in a tangle of emotions. Amanda Roe’s “He Doesn’t Talk About the War” gently draws out painful memories. A strange but oddly accomplished and interesting image of a woman in exotic dress by Josie Lacour evokes orientalist fantasies in the style of the 1920s. Kedrick Williams’ highly accomplished painting, “Maybe I’m Ill” demonstrates his surfeit of ideas, gifts and information in search of a true identity. His work is so professional and appealing that he surely will find the answer to his intriguing dilemma. Dorothy Kristin Hanna’s painting, “Encounter,” spins in a circular format as blue orbs define a playful yet serious mood.

A strong candidate for the top prize was Rachel McClintic, whose large color photographic print reveals a strange world of childhood fantasies and dreams. Ordinary things – a rocking horse, oxford loafers, the wallpaper of a room – take on a hypnotic fascination. Adrift in memories, hopes and fears, she takes us inside her private world, pretending to be that child in the picture. She is an accomplished artist who has found her true voice.

There is so much to see and think about in this vast offering of Northern Louisiana art that anyone interested in the current scene should certainly take in this annual show.

A local involvement with a professional animation studio shows in the work of many of these artists, mostly to a good effect. The level of drawing, conceptualizing and execution is very high in most of the works in this exhibition. Choosing the winner was difficult and ultimately quite satisfying.

About the Critic

Susan C. Larsen is a critic and art historian living in Maine. She has been curator of the Permanent Collection at the Whitney Museum of American Art, professor of art history at the University of Southern California and collector of artists’ papers for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. She has written articles and reviews for such publications as: Art in America; Art News; Artforum; Art International; the LAICA Journal; MS. Magazine. Her essays have appeared in many museum catalogues concerning the art of: Walter Ingliss Anderson; Charles Larsen Biederman; Vija Celmins; Richard Diebenkorn; George Herms; Edward Hopper; John McLaughlin; Wayne Thiebaud; Cy Twombly and many others. She has specialized in the history of abstract art in America but has also done substantial work on the art of outsiders on the West Coast. At present, she is consulting curator for the Clinton Hill/Allen Tran Foundation in Rancho Mirage, Calif.