Photograph by George Sakkestad
In his work "Test Pilot," Dustin Pendill poses the question: Would pulling the cork let the man out or the world in?
By Shari Kaplan
Blending literary symbolic techniques with an equally creative mix of media and objects, San Francisco artist Dustin Pendill invites viewers to make what they will of his new exhibit, The Man, The Wind, The Trees and Other Situations, on display through April 6 at the Gallery at Villa Montalvo, Saratoga.
"My work deals with metaphor and allegory. More often than not, the metaphors and allegories are of events and situations in my own life," Pendill explains in his artist statement.
"I hope the story that emerges from the symbols means something specific to me but at the same time can mean something else to the viewer. I like the final product to be about something broad enough that the viewer can make up his or her own story," he adds.
The 1990s have been a busy chapter in Pendill's life story, containing his first art showing in 1991, his 1992 graduation from Indiana University with double majors in fine arts and telecommunications, a handful of group and individual art shows over the years and his 1996 master of fine arts degree from San Francisco Art Institute.
His current show at Montalvo consists of eight pieces of three-dimensional art and a handful of small sketches and drawings. Each art piece is unique and often abstract, using such media as balsa wood, glass, Plexiglas, metal, string, cork and acrylic paint. All pieces were done in either 1996 or 1997.
Graceful sailing ships crafted from balsa wood appear in several pieces. In two of them--"Would" and "Sloop John B."--the ships emerge only partially formed. Their bows and masts are heading into the wind, their sterns not yet differentiated from the delicate wood of their origins. Given Pendill's propensity for the symbolic, these half-formed vessels not yet free to sail the waves could represent unfinished plans or delayed dreams--waiting for one's ship to come in, or in this case perhaps sail away.
In "Untitled," a balsa-wood rocket instead of a ship sits half-formed among its abstract launching apparatus, its tail end and fins the only formed parts. Although viewers don't know what, if anything, has suffered a delayed launching in Pendill's life, that doesn't prevent them from identifying in their own ways. An interesting additional touch is an old resonating automobile horn attached to the underside of what would be the launching platform.
"Test Pilot" uses wood of a different kind--cork--to seal a hole in the side of a small glass sphere. Attached to the cork inside the sphere is a metal seat in which a fighter pilot or astronaut figure sits strapped in, an alarmed look on his face. Would pulling the cork let the man out or let the rest of the world in--and would that be good or bad? Each viewer must decide.
In "Honey Fumble," a small ridged oval in the upper-left area and a hole in the lower right break up the perplexing turns and corners of what appears to be a rectangular maze in a dark honey color. Although the oval could be a bee, the structure itself looks nothing like a literal honeycomb; figuratively it could be many things.
The piece titled "The Man, The Wind, The Trees" shows a figure in a brown leisure suit walking along a blue circle while clutching his hat in an unseen wind. Spiraling out from the orb--which could resemble the earth or at least its oceans--is a long blue propeller attached to a metal wire. Off in the distance on the same wall is another, smaller circle, this one green with a cluster of five little trees. Where is the man going? Or perhaps, where is Man going?
The Man, The Wind, The Trees and Other Situations runs through April 6. The Gallery , located at 15400 Montalvo Road, is open Thursday and Friday, 1-4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m., before Montalvo concerts and during intermissions. For more information, call 741-3421, ext. 331.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, March 19, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.