The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 17, 1980, Page Page 9, Image 11
cSEsthetici
oyma;
tSoyd oat
retrospec
For the last twenty years, a I
Boyd Saunders could have C
been riding with that per- "I
sistent pack of realists in the is
never-ending search for the ei
iim A ll.> *- -
ucuiiiiivc uaiii. ntmaiiy, lie si
could probably have been ei
fairly content amidst their th
lot, for at the core, Saunders it
is a die-hard traditionalist.
Yet a love of the land, its
people and knowledge of the r<
by-gone triumphs of a once pi
great regionalism, could not p;
fuel the flames of regression, gl
Rather than scouring the st
country side for weathered ai
clanks. Saunders found thp Tr
barn in his own backyard ? o
and rather than il
meticulously rendering the rr
grain in each board, he fused 01
his memories, his passions al
and his personality into a d<
strikingly personal, and
ultimately universal r;
What all this is about is a ai
retropsective of the work of Is
Columbia artist and USC e<
professor Boyd Saunders, si
which is currently on display c<
Davies c
By Ted Twardzik t
Staff Writar r
A long time ago, Dave s
Davies was a 17-year-old kid c
who was busy ^
revolutionizing rock guitar a
playing via his berserk solos a
on the first few Kinks hits.
As the band matured, he *
became more disciplined A
and began to write. From
1%7 on, he started slipping I
the occasional, invariably I
excellent song into brother ;
Rav's mnsiral mnnnnnlv
but it wasn't until this year \h
that he released his own I
album.
This is a "true" solo |
album, meaning it is written, [
arranged, produced, sung
and played (except for an I
outside rhythm section n
recruited for four tracks) in ^
its entirety by Davies ? a
feat pulled off with more
professionalism than Paul /
McCartney and more guts P
than Roy Wood. i
Not surprisingly, the best
features of this record are
the ones Dave retained from
his Kinks songs. The ten
tracks are brimming with
effective hooks, the vocal
arrangements are uniformly
exquisite and the guitar
solos are economical,
melodic and tastefully unA,
4 ? A I
ucnsutieu.
Conversely, Dave goes
wrong when he departs from
his style. One hereditary
observation is that he shares
the Davies disdain for
romantic lyrics ? on the
more than 20 Kinks albums
there aren't more than a
handful of honest-to-God
love songs. Even the tunes
on AFL1-3603 that are addressed
to women are done
so in a peculiar philosophical
fashion.
Dave's old lyrics created a
surreal, pessimistic world
which suits his tight,
strangled voice perfectly. On
this record, he's swapped
those traditional lvrirs for a
-J
series of broad political
indictments which, while
riddled with a good many
appalling cliches, remain
sufficiently elusive as to
escape becoming embarrassing,
as well as being
aDDronrifltp v#?hir1*?s for his
voice.
The only other significant
drawback on the album is
i
rk^chevalier
inders'
:tive
t the Music/Art Center at |
olumbia College. The
barn" talk deals with what _
, in effect, the cumulative
id of this retrospective, a
litp nf civ ronnn t nrinti'
-- vv, kj.rt & VVVUV pi into
ititled "The Farm." Yet.
lis review, like the exhibit L
self, does not begin with |
The Farm", but ends there. I
As is the case with any B
etrospecti ve, the!
rovocative point is com-1
arison, and gaining a I
limDse at the multitude nf I
yles and techniques the I
"tiS t has evolved through. |
lcluded here are examples |
f Saunders' early
lustra tive work for
lagazines and books, which
ily hint at the technical
t>ility that would later
evelop.
In contrast with these
ither timid illustrations,
re three large fantasy
indscapes, exemplifying
irlv concerns with tranucency
and the layering of
ilor. Two of the works.
rets Kin
he tendency of the songs to
esemble each other
tructurally to an unomfortable
degree, a fault
lat is accentuated by the
lbum's unrelenting heavy
pproach. Mellow, it isn't;
MAKE YOUR
WITH BUCKL
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i
Primavera" and "Afterward",
also show a brief
excursion into textural
surface, utilizing a heavy
impasto with small bits of
colored glass embeded into
the paint.
There are also examples of
Saunders during a more
abstractly p*nrps?iuo
period, evident in a series of
Boyd Saunders
silkscreens pertaining to
"angles."
Olfprall T con in gnnri/4n?<p'
V/ * 1411, 1 UVV. All UUUUUV/I O
work a progressive
development in the breaking
down of compositional space
into a series of almost
puzzle-like components. In
the early work, naturalist
elements perform this
function, such as stark
iks out
but neither is it mindless,
and A FL1-3603 should make
its presence known beyond
the confines of Kinks Kultist.
Sixteen years is a long time
in the shadows, and Dave
Davies deserves a suntan.
! OWN BELT ^
ES& STRIPS |
G3= |
495 complete h I
VAREHOUSE SAL [| I
\N COLA 9 til 6 Mnn i 1
ICKERS
tCORDS
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SHIRTS
17.88
reg. su.uo
js Clothier
Sen St.
> Croucho's)
horizon lines, massive trees
and winding fences. Later,
as the work becomes flattened
and more abstract,
large rectangular insets, or
bold sweeping lines isolate
one area from another. This
characteristic can also be
seen in the early prints,
which are shaped and often
involve various plates which
| are pieced together before
IIIUII^.
The danger in such a
structural approach to
composition is that the very
system may undermind the
intention, producing work
that looks rontrivf?H nr
gimmicky. Saunders never
got to that point, and has in
fact, managed to combine
the best of both - natural and
abstract divisions - in his
most recent work, here
exemplified in "The Farm."
In "The Farm" suite,
Saunders insirts on a
basically realistic and
11 i *
Iniusionisnc space, mus he
gains the advantage of
naturalist forms declaring
and defining the space. Yet
intermingled within many of
the works, abstract edges or
lines cut through the composition,
but no longer in the
flat manner of the earlier
works. Here the abstract
divisions are forced to integrate,
to become part of
I ho root i m o On r tr
. ^ O & V, I J .
Overlapping realistic forms
soften the divisions, allowing
Saunders to create a second
1 DeOi
Home C
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J Thursday. S(
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O f rk
ooya oauriders'
level of imagery.
The first print in the series
is "The Orchard", which is
as rich in texture and value,
as it is in depiction and
composition. The work leads
you in upon fallen signs and
dense black grass, and
progresses you back to a
softer, more linear treat
:ious |
looking i
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54
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HOIK \ *
4:;i()-7:<)()[). m I J
.-?()( (It< 111 M J
k I *
I Kill ^
Pl 18 *
mnrr ^ *
*
fe- " v-i>^^l ^-"i
"v*"
The Orchard
ment.
"The Bedroom" follows,
with its ghost-like figure
slumped upon an unmade
oea. a written statement
spans the lower quarter of
the work, but its subtle value
makes reading it entirely
See Saunders page 11
I T-Mk. i fl
l V^j^CWNIll AfcMS FlJUMAtYJ >
I ' PnONf 7 ? 9 ' S 9 ?> J
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