Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

"Decadance," by the late Tony Cristallo, is one of the artist's works on exhibit at the Los Gatos Museum on Tait Avenue.

Museum presents Cristallo retrospective

By Shari Kaplan

"I'm sitting on all this beauty, and nobody sees it but me, except for people who visit. I felt this is the kind of stuff that should be seen," Los Gatos mountains resident Suzanne Cristallo says of the abundance of artwork left by her husband, Anthony J. "Tony" Cristallo, who died in August 1994.

That art, including metal sculpture, watercolors, photography and computer-generated "paintings," is on display through June 29 at the Los Gatos Museum of Art and Natural Science. Cristallo taught art locally for many years, in Los Gatos and Saratoga schools, at Santa Clara University and at Saratoga's Villa Montalvo, the latter being one of many Bay Area venues in which he exhibited.

Cristallo worked out of the Tin Ear studio in Los Gatos, the Big Basin studio in Saratoga and the Bay Tree Gallery and Studio on his mountain property, where he also had a barn and several horses. The High Horse Studio in Capitola was also his.

"Tony's art is full of humor and wry observation. He also loved horses and beautiful women, and both of them are shown in his art," Suzanne says with a chuckle.

"He was a pool player and an avid golfer--a 400 handicap in his prime. He was out in beautiful scenery every time he golfed, and some of that inspired his outdoor, pastoral scenes."

These are a few of Cristallo's favorite things, and the exhibit is full of them, joined by other interesting subjects. One of these is a white-painted metal sculpture of a castle, with a damsel in distress beckoning from a high tower and an intrepid hero scaling the walls. An anachronistic twist to the fairytale is the basketball court built into the side of the castle, where the damsel's captor is too busy shooting hoops to notice the rescuer.

In the metal sculpture "Decadence," a woman languishes on a rope hammock, her body language clearly showing her carefree mood, from the arm slung over her eyes to the martini glass dangling from her other hand. "She's a statement about certain segments of society who like to lie around in the sun," reads the quote from the artist on a nearby card identifying the work.

Above the woman, mounted high on either side of the wall, is the front and rear end of a large, spirited metal horse. Its mane flies behind it, and its hooves gallop eagerly through the air. There are many smaller sculptures of the equines throughout the gallery--running, standing or eating.

The Pacific Coast turns up several times in Cristallo's watercolors, from the Moss Landing power plant on the southern portion of the Monterey Bay, to the Capitola pier during a dark gray storm. The fall foliage of his Massachusetts birthplace also appears.

Cristallo had an eye for capturing the unusual in paintings, as shown in his rocky wall covered with colorful graffiti. The card underneath reveals that while on a trip to Vancouver, Cristallo bypassed the scenic lake other tourists were snapping pictures of and noticed the graffiti-covered rocks nearby instead. Instead of copying the writings, however, he "wrote" his own graffiti--the names of past wives, friends and lovers, according to Sue.

The last watercolor Cristallo painted--one month before his death--is included here as well. It's a relaxing view from a vacation condo where he stayed in Mazatlan. People swim in a pool and visit beneath trees and small huts, with the serene ocean in the background.

Tastefully portrayed female nudes turn up in both watercolor and photographs, the latter intentionally blurred by Cristallo as he moved his camera, had his models move or slightly overexposed the prints. "I tried to screw up on purpose," he said in a quote beneath the photos.

Among other things, the exhibit contains a painting series depicting pool players (and the woman who hung out with them), from professionals to Los Gatans Cristallo once played with.

The Los Gatos Art and Natural Science Museum is located at 4 Tait Ave. Hours are noon to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.

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