In Chinese calendar speak, 2002 is the Year of the Horse; in Carl Cowden III's reckoning, it may be the summer of his monkeys.
For that matter, this past season might have been called the year of his turtle. Cowden's fiberglass "Mr. Maestro," part of the wonderful public art Tour of Turtle project, occupied a box seat directly overlooking the Ruth Eckerd Hall stage.
But for Bay area art enthusiasts unfamiliar with Cowden's work, two summer exhibitions will help place his name before the public. One of these is his mixed-media solo show at Ruth Eckerd Hall, where he recently resigned as in-house curator/artist in residence. He plans to focus more on his own fine art career.
Cowden wears many artistic hats. A Master Printer at University of Tampa's Studio F, he has overseen screenprinting projects alongside famed visiting resident artists like fabric artist Miriam Schapiro and Chicago imagist Ed Paschke. By day, he's a commercial mural painter, a job that helps pay the bills.
The artist's first Eckerd show is a smorgasbord of 28 works. Because Cowden rejects the notion of being identified by a particular style or medium, his work ranges from complex symbolism to traditional landscape, from screenprinting and collage to drawing and painting. In itself, this is hardly problematic. But when an artist shows, however infrequently, an urge to throw in the kitchen sink to showcase his or her talent, it can diffuse the overall impact. It does here. From an outsider's perspective, such breadth within a solo exhibition suggests a lack of focus.
Cowden, who diligently (and ethically) refrained from curating himself into a Ruth Eckerd solo exhibition, was actually asked to fill in with his art after budgetary cuts canceled the next scheduled show. Considering his last-minute frenzy to gather, frame and hang his own works, this exhibition might have been tighter if the artist had more time to prepare.
Still, there are a number of gems here, particularly the four richly complex "Monkey with a Gun" screenprints, part of a 26-piece series executed over the last few years.
In Cowden's symbolic lexicon, the monkeys he plucks from Baroque murals represent man as a destructive force, a powerful message now carrying heightened meaning. In Cowden's intelligent interpretation — far from the screaming political/social themes of the late '80s/early '90s art world — the theme repeats in a number of aesthetically seductive ways. It's hardly surprising since the artist believes in the absolute power of sheer visual impact.
Aside from the monkey's small gun, dead birds are strewn across tree limbs that mutate into arabesque flourishes. In addition: a cornucopia of decorative posies, moths and nearly hidden horn-like motifs. A past member of the '80s punk rock band The Voodoo Idols, the artist often embellishes with musical instrument designs.
In a different vein, his quirky painting, "Remembering Dharma" — set in a vaguely exotic setting and also based on anthropomorphous animals — is oddly appealing. Sketched after a dream five years ago, its quasi Outsider Art sensibility features a small elephant lumbering up a flight of temple stairs after a long journey. Dharma, an Indian word for purpose in life, is used as a metaphor here, evoking a dry period when he was not making art.
Folks on the Tampa side of the Bay will soon have an opportunity to view a small sampling of Cowden's work, including one from his monkey series. The artist has just been awarded a coveted slot as one of 17 participants in Tampa Museum of Art's underCURRENT/overVIEW 6, opening July 7.
Art critic Adrienne M. Golub can be reached by e-mail at adrienne.golub@weeklyplanet.com.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2002.
