The show goes on �” fully clothed

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By Katie Vaughn | Sunday, September 17, 2006 1:13 AM CDT | () comments

Nick Loomis/QUAD-CITY TIMES Local artist Gretchen Stabile has three paintings on display at the Davenport's RiverCenter.

Ten paintings on display at the RiverCenter in Davenport showcase a variety of subject matter and style. Created by MidCoast Fine Arts painters and on display through Oct. 29, the works include abstract graphic swirls and bright bursts of color, as well as representational paintings of women dressing and dancing.

But while this exhibition, held in glass cases in a hall overlooking 3rd Street, illustrates the diversity of art created by local oil painters, it was intended to be a celebration of the human form.

According to Mardi Howell, program director for MidCoast at the RiverCenter, artists submitted work to the arts organization earlier this year for possible placement in venues throughout the Quad-Cities. Oil painters Gretchen Stabile, Joel Smith and Colleen McCarty offered figurative and abstract works of the human form, including several nudes.

However, when the paintings were assigned placement at the RiverCenter, which works to hang on the walls had to be carefully considered. While showing nudes is not an issue at galleries, MidCoast takes a more censored approach when placing work in spaces frequented by the general public and children, Howell said.

Rick Palmer, executive director of the RiverCenter, said no rules or guidelines exist regarding what artistic content can be shown. However, representatives of the RiverCenter and MidCoast have discussed what is appropriate for a public setting, he said.

“We’ve asked them to be sensitive to the type of artwork they display,” he said.

For the latest exhibition, MidCoast organizers and the three artists worked together to determine which paintings to hang. Stabile brought a large collection of work as potential inclusions, but most of her paintings are figurative nudes.

“Basically, I chose the ones that are the least nude,” Stabile said.

Stabile’s paintings are the only in the show to directly feature the human body. One depicts strongly delineated ballet dancers in movement, with limbs overlapping within the plane of the canvas. A darker painting shows a bare-backed woman leaning on a red chair, while the final submission is a procession of mannequin busts with a variety of placements and patterns, from solid colored to leopard printed to grid-like.

The three paintings show the different types of subject matter Stabile likes to use in her work, she said.

“I’m really interested in fashion, color, pattern and their connection to the human figure,” she said. “The RiverCenter shows one of all three.”

McCarty also had painted figurative works and several nudes to include in the show, but opted against displaying them, Howell said.

“Her figures are very abstract,” Howell said. “She probably could have gotten away with it.”

Instead, she hung three paintings defined by thick curved lines in swirling patterns. Created in tones of orange, purple and blue, respectively, the paintings’ precise lines are offset with hashes of softer color in more of a scribbled style behind.

Smith’s four paintings also take an abstract approach. The works explode with color and jumbles of overlapping shapes and brushstrokes. One suggests a human form in an expanse of white paint, while another’s pattern of small multicolor square shapes is reminiscent of fireworks or a burgeoning bouquet of flowers.

Although each painting in the show is not an exploration of the human form, Howell believes visitors will see the exhibition as an interesting cross-section of what local artists are creating.

“I would hope they would see the diversity of art available in the Quad-Cities,” she said.

Katie Vaughn can be contacted at (563) 383-2282 or kvaughn@qctimes.com.