‘Mesmerized by shapes’: Physical, representative shapes coexist in gallery’s space

Peggy Stansbery, Staff Writer

Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms of shapes in space contrast and complement one another at the Reynolds Gallery. 

The Reynolds Gallery presents “Shapes in Space,” a two-person exhibition of drawings by Carlton Newton and sculptures by Esther Ruiz at their Main Street gallery, according to the Reynolds Gallery’s website. 

The show opened on March 17 and will be up until April 28. 

“Shapes in Space” could signify shapes in outer space, according to Ruiz; or be “simple and straightforward” and mean “shapes in space,” according to Newton. The minimal and clean presentation of the pieces allows the viewer to put their own thoughts onto it and figure out what they want “Shapes in Space” to mean, Ruiz said. 

The gallery had shown both artists’ work before and decided to pair them together, according to Newton. Their work has a “strong contrast” but holds complementing commonalities. 

Ruiz’s sculptures incorporate neon and are three-dimensional with simple lines, while Newton’s drawings are black and white and more detailed and flat, according to Newton. Contrarily, they share a similar size and “egg shape” figure; and Newton’s drawings hold three-dimensional qualities due to his roots in sculpture. 

“When I’m drawing I begin with a mark and then as the marks start to add up I find myself thinking about the image as if it were an object,” Newton said. “There’s a concern with three-dimensionality in a lot of these drawings that comes from my history of being a sculptor.”

As a sculptor and “someone who builds things,” Newton often thinks about how things are built and how the processes of nature make the materials used to make things while creating his drawings, he said.

Newton said he hopes visitors to look at both his and Ruiz’s work closely and enjoy the experience. 

“It’s a strong contrast, and for me that’s a possible field of thinking about the experiences that you have,” Newton said. 

At first, the artists felt “kind of skeptical” about being combined due to their differences, but Ruiz has found the pieces to have good contrast and be an interesting combination, she said. 

Ruiz finds that she and Newton relate because they are both sculptors and how they draw two-dimensionally — her sculptures in the show began as drawings, she said.

They both draw outlines of organic round shapes, avoid making marks in the center of those shapes and fill in the negative space, according to Ruiz. 

“I really did see the likeness in the funny way that we both were making these shapes, these empty shapes,” Ruiz said. “I was kind of excited to see them together because I really do like the way that we’re both using these organic ovals.”

Ruiz said she hopes people are “intrigued” and “mystified” by the different ways of looking at shapes. 

“I want someone to be mesmerized by shapes and exemplifying simple movements,” Ruiz said. 

“Shapes in Space” pairs Ruiz’s physical shapes in physical space and Newton’s representative shapes in negative space, according to Reynold Gallery’s registrar, CM Turner. 

The pairing places Carlton’s traditional media pieces and Ruiz’s new media pieces together, providing a new context for the artists’ work to be received, Turner said. 

“It is as much about what the artworks have in common as it is about what the artworks have in difference,” Turner said. “And how putting these kinds of objects in conversation with each other helps to elicit a response from the audience.”

Newton and Ruiz are conceptually creating recognizable objects without necessarily being representative, Turner said. Newton works from ideas of nature without necessarily fully representing nature, and Ruiz creates representatives of emotional or mental states. 

When looking at these pieces formally, they appear “very different” at face value, Turner said. Once viewers push past that initial read on formal qualities, they can discover the similarities and conversations happening “across these shapes in space.”

The exhibition’s design produces a rhythm through lighting and arrangement that allows the viewer to move through the space and experience the artwork in ways that might not initially register, Turner said.  

“My hope is that audiences are encouraged to move beyond the initial read of just the formal qualities of the work and to contemplate the conceptual underpinning,” Turner said.