Review: Skin Deep at BC Space

The current exhibition at Laguna Beach’s venerable BC Space Gallery entitled Skin Deep presents compelling works by two quite different artists that is far from the superficial implications of its title. Richard Hutter, a former Marine, and Dao Nguyen, a Vietnamese national who emigrated to this country in 1975, have compelling back stories that add much deeper meanings to this show.

Richard Hutter initially seems to be exploring safe ground with his research of vintage slides of anonymous family events. Employing a microscope attached to a digital camera, his tight cropping (mainly of faces, and often just eyes or lips) are vastly enlarged to reveal the ravages time has inflicted on the surface of the film. In his images the colors have shifted and faded, while scratches and dust marring the emulsion becomes accentuated. In some cases, mold that has attacked the images has created patterns resembling woodworm tunnels or DNA strands.

Hutter’s artistic approach is that of a biologist scrutinizing specimens and carefully recording his observations. The results display a remarkable interplay of sharply focused elements and patterns that often veer into pure abstraction. Enhancing this characteristic are softly rendered colored clouds of film grain that surprisingly still retain remarkable impressions of the time period from which they come. The images are solidly handsome and admirably varied. In some cases, they are unexpectedly beautiful despite, or even because of, the flaws.

Richard Hutter was a Marine photographer who, in 1970, with only six months of service left flew a helicopter mission in Riverside County on a training exercise. When a freakish Santa Ana wind downdraft crashed the copter to the ground, the pilot was killed and Richard was trapped inside the burning plane. He escaped only after sustaining burns over 65 percent of his body. The resulting disfigurement and pain persists to this day.

Doa Nguyen takes a different approach to her art making. If Hutter is the biologist/scientist discovering his own visage within the personal allegories of others, Nguyen is the engineer/inventor reconstructing her past through elaborate mechanisms employing highly personal aspects of herself.

Her signature piece is the 6’ x 8’ Photograph of My Father portrait comprised of countless tiny LED lights that slowly illuminate, then fade, then come back to life, mimicking the vagaries of memory and time. This interactive image is derived from a small refugee camp identification photo of her late father. Much like memory, this image from 34 years ago is amplified and magnified, then deactivated in an endless cycle. Periodically a Buddist gong sounds to indicate the end of another era to imbue the piece with a distinctly meditative quality.

Far simpler but equally powerful in the context of the show is Nguyen’s Untitled pitchfork sculpture. In this piece a simple hand hewn pitchfork stands menacingly upright, with small, rectangular pieces of what appears to be dark, dried skin impaled on the tines. Closer inspection reveals that this is not skin at all, but is actually oiled and waxed tissues, one implication being that they are the fragile repository of unforgotten tears.

Dao Nguyen emigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1975. For a time, her parents found employment by sewing American flags. This history is reflected in Sewing Machine Magic, an archaic treadle sewing machine that features teacups which, when the device is activated, circle on a Lazy Susan to be struck by the stitching mechanism one at a time. The art of tea meets the craft of Singer.

Other pieces focus on the artist’s investigation of herself through collections of her own hair and sloughed skin. In Handle With Care, a precarious tower of bureau drawers spins about as you approach it to reveal wax castings of various body parts and photographs within. The more secret parts are made visible only in mirrors.

Exhibiting these two artists together presents a powerful dynamic. Although coming from different sides of different cultures and working in different mediums, both were personally transformed by the Vietnam War, and have been seeking to reconcile the impact that time has had on their lives ever since. In the process, both have chosen to look far beneath the surface for understanding and healing.

Another meaningful connection between Hutter and Nguyen is that both have studied extensively at Cypress College, where they were mentored by artist/educator Jerry Burchfield. Jerry, the original B of BC, is internationally recognized for utilizing a myriad of historical and alternative photographic processes. He has also embraced body and performance art, influences that are manifested in the creative expressions by Richard Hutter and Dao Nguyen.

BC Space Gallery curator, Mark Chamberlain, is also an instructor at Cypress College, and himself a former soldier from that era. His own life was also transformed by those cruel times.

Skin Deep will remain on display through April 29, 2009. Abnormal gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 2-5 PM, with other hours easily arranged by contacting the gallery at (949) 497-1880 or [email protected]. Advance contact is encouraged. The gallery is located at 235 Forest Avenue, Laguna Beach, CA 92651.