Beautifully Dark: The Art of Pam Reagan

Last night I went to Pam Reagan's show at the Vargas Gallery.  I had already seen all of the pieces before, but it was interesting to see them together and to see them in a new setting.

Her MFA show, which we helped set up (see this post for more details), was in an art house cinema, which meant that the pieces were here and there throughout the multi-room venue.  Last night's show was in one square of a room with white walls and industrial carpeting.  Having all of the pieces in one room helps us see how they inform each other.

I have always loved her masks, especially the ones with broken glass:

Now with all the jaggedness, with the lack of holes for eyes and nose, most of us wouldn't wear these masks.  Lately, she's gotten requests for more wearable art, so she's been experimenting in that direction.  Her capes are beautiful, but it's hard for me to imagine wearing them.

Of course, people who know me know that I'm not a high-art gal when it comes to my clothes.  If I love a piece of clothing, I will wear it threadbare.  And I'm not one to spend a lot of money on clothes, since I love so few of them. 

And I don't see the recent pieces as particularly wearable either, but perhaps that's because I'm not going to wear capes or masks.  However if I needed to make interesting costumes for a movie, I'd look no further.

I liked the way that the broken glass from one piece reflected the colors of other pieces.  She has a mask that's all black which glinted red in places--but it was the red from a piece across the gallery.  Intriguing! 

I have used beads and glittery threads in my own fabric art, so I understand the appeal of elements that glint at each other.  But I am not a hard edges and jaggedness artist--well, not yet.  I have a vision for a piece of fabric art of mine that invokes the crucifixion of Christ, and I have a vision of little nails around the edges.  Or three nails to hold the fabric piece to a piece of wood.

These shoes might be my favorite piece from the show:

I start thinking about all the art I could make, but then where would I store these pieces?  I have the same issue with buying pieces like these--where would I put them?  I can't keep up with the dusting of my more durable possessions.  How would I care for the art?

No, I won't be that kind of collector.  Still, I'm glad to have the chance to see the art.

You can see it too.  Pam Reagan's show will be up for several weeks at the Vargas Gallery.  Many of the pieces have a Christmas/winter theme, so it's a perfect activity for the holidays--which tells you more about my approach to holidays than I may want you to know. 

The gallery is located at 10131 Pines Blvd. Pembroke Pines, Florida.  It's in a strip mall, that kind of suburban strip mall where it's hard to see signage.  Look for the Applebees, and turn into that shopping center.  The gallery is part of Jose Vargas University, which is in that strip mall.