Athens Banner-Herald Marquee
September 4, 2003
Julie Phillips Jordan

Playing with art

Dunphy's 16-foot purple Naugahyde seesaw is fitted with lowrider bicycle handlebars, inspired by a Southern California sub-culture with which she became fascinated. Behind "Swing Set #3" by Dunphy, the windows of the University of Georgia's Broad Street Gallery are fixed with a brightly colored "chain-link fence" helping to define "Recess," space where adult playtime is encouraged.

For most school kids, "recess" is nearly a magical word, that moment when the doors to the playground burst open and little bodies stretch and play while imaginations run free, all the while safely contained within the boundaries of playtime. For adults, though, recess is mostly a lost pastime, with hectic schedules and responsibilities inflicting time constraints on bodies too tired for play and minds grown weary from work.

But the University of Georgia's Broad Street Gallery offers a new art exhibit titled "Recess" which revisits the memories most of us left back on the playground, complete with color-infused paintings, swings and even a seesaw, all in adult-sized proportions, made for play. "Recess" combines the creative imaginations of Athens artists Didi Dunphy and Carol John, friends who previously have shown their work together (in the 2001 exhibit, "Pop Tarts"). This show continues both artists' ongoing exploration of pop culture and modernism, with the interactive experience of a defined space in which adults can recapture the meaning of play. But if "play" seems a basic concept, consider it's nonetheless something that delves into our developmental past.

Dunphy says her idea for the show in part began with her work in last year's "Modern Convenience: Luminous Object 1," an electric sculpture in the form of a light board, inspired by the childhood game Lite Brite. "I was investigating this whole idea of using art as a vehicle for social play, that moment in our development when we no longer engage in individual play and (cultivate) skills to interact and create a common narrative," Dunphy says of that significant sandbox time, when little relationships begin.

"Recess" creates a physical, interactive environment that joyfully brings play into adult social exchange. There is, for instance, the inevitable, momentarily-awkward giggle as two adults straddle Dunphy's magnificent, adult-sized 16-foot seesaw and work together to the shared thrill of bobbing up and down, weightless. (That this particular seesaw is covered in sparkly-purple Naugahyde—the very stuff that covered the banana seats of many an adult's childhood bicycle—only adds to the effect.) And then there are the swings, again covered in Dunphy's signature crayon-colored Naugahyde, suspended by bright yellow "chains," inviting adults to sit and recapture the physical fun of swaying back and forth.

"This is designed to make adults relive their toddlerhood," Dunphy says of the show, noting that for the exhibit's opening reception, people dressed as "gym teachers" with whistles around their necks, encouraged visitors to take a ride on her sculptures. She adds that the gallery's windows, encircled with her design of a chain link fence—in cartoony, cheerful colors—suggest the space itself is meant to foster the idea that here, play is OK.

Meanwhile, John's oil-on-paper paintings bring brightly colored patterns to the gallery walls. Her loosely defined grids create the visual appeal of a wall lined with flickering TV sets or, as John refers to them, canvases filled with Frankenstein (-sized) stitches of sewing or weaving patterns. John attributes the color and design in part to her attraction to pop culture and cartoons, but says there's a deeper meditative process that emerges in creating the interacting succession of shapes, each an individual panel of the whole piece. The pattern also might suggest prayer beads, she says: "A lot of ideas come up as you look at it and watch it develop."

While both artists are moms, John says motherhood hasn't necessarily influenced her artistic direction. "I've always enjoyed the lighter side, the more fun side of art," she notes. And, adds Dunphy, the idea that her work can be functional is part of her exploration of the way people experience art. She quotes abstract expressionist Barnett Newman, who said sculpture is something you bump into while you're backing away from a painting. "If that's the case," she says with a laugh, "then this is somethiog that provides a soft landing."