Doug Cannell, “Grace and Caution”/Courtesy of the gallery
Doug Cannell’s first solo show in Chicago features new works that are in part inspired by the Japanese Zen practice of “enso”—the making of a circle with one brief brushstroke through the gesture of the body—and deconstructed and reimagined letters. This language of movement is reinterpreted into three-dimensional sculptures.
His pieces are made from laminated, bent plywood, and play with balance, tension and the written word.
A large piece hangs in the balance with two metal rings, with one edge severely lopsided. Another is an outsized circle with almost petal-like protuberances from layers within the wood. The wood is smooth, and it layers upon itself at several levels. One would never know that Cannell sources his materials from scrapyards, hardware stores and lumberyards.
Doug Cannell, “Korean Patois”/Courtesy of the gallery
Doug Cannell, “Korean Patois”/Courtesy of the gallery
In a unique part of the exhibition, Cannell has deconstructed and reconstructed letters as just graphic elements with the intent of maintaining the overall graphic look of their alphabet.
“I find that one alphabet to the other really has a character to it that it is just graphic character, not so much about the meaning of the words, but there’s a graphic element that comes through to me, especially because I don’t speak the language,” he says.
Much of Cannell’s art is informed by his work as a graphic designer. He, of course, has an immense love for typography. Cannell is interested in the idea that certain languages are immediately visible to a non-speaker as the respective language, just by its particular look.
Doug Cannell, “Gravity”/Courtesy of the gallery
Cannell plays with color, not haphazardly but in a messy, unformed way. One side might highlight the wood, and one side might have a splash or a carefree swipe of high-pigment paint.
The colors in the exhibition range from blue to red to orange; Cannell does not prescribe more meaning to the choices beyond what makes sense for the color palette or his particular penchant for a hue. Cannell, for example, chose to use colors from the Armenian flag for his deconstructed Armenian lettering to instill a sense of abstract kinship with the piece.
“In Longhand” is about the written word and what that inspires, whether in the reimagined letters or the calligraphy. The connection is even more apparent as you move from piece to piece.
“In Longhand” at ARC Gallery, 1463 West Chicago, through August 11.
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