August Art Loop at the DCCA

Entering the Dupont Gallery I at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts on August 14 gave me a jolt. Having read the excellent notes written by Assistant Curator Susan Isaacs should have cushioned the shock but the seven stark graphite and gouache works of Zoë Charlton’s Imitation of a Life left me breathless.

Perhaps it is because Charlton has captured the good and enchained it in evil – as often happens in life. She has taken a loop from a 1934 film Imitation of Life directed by John M Stahl which is a scene in which a successful black businesswoman comes to find her daughter who has run away and is trying to pass as white. Charlton has put a Ku Klux Klan hood on the daughter’s head.

So is this an imitation of success? When the tearful mother tries to woo back her daughter to ‘black’ life, is it begging her to fail?

The seven works seem also quite stark – all on creamy white paper with no frames, the graphite figures of naked women seem indefensible – vulnerable – enslaved to the unseen evil powers that have made them toys of their masters. The occasional spots of color are mocking accessories to the crime.

If you need a lift when you leave the Dupont I, visit the Fractious Happy installation by Heather Harvey in the Constance S and Robert J. Hennessy Project Space or just wander the halls and acquaint yourself with works of the studio artists who are the mainstay of the DCCA – or come back on September 4 and see the brilliant colors of a Ken Mabrey or a fanciful construct by Jane Quattarone.

Read excellent curator notes by J Susan Isaacs and find out about future exhibits and dates : www.thedcca.org

Bid on a local artist

If you're going to Middletown for the Peach Festival, check out the regional artists at the Gibby Center, 51 W. Main St. A silent auction is under way to Aug. 21 on unframed artwork.

Gallery hours are 6 to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 14; then noon to 5 p.m. Thurday and Friday; and 10 to 5 Saturday. There'll be a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 21. Call (302) 449-5396 to learn more.

Brandywine Guitar Quartet Braves the Storm

The guitars of BGQ plucked Dan Graper’s arrangement of a William Zinn string quartet version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” as one hundred people listened in the beautiful Pell Gardens along the C & D Canal in Chesapeake City.

The music and the idyllic setting seemed like something from another world – picnic blankets, happy faces, dogs and babies, and a very Spanish-sounding classical guitar quartet.

After two movements of Mozart, the quartet played Graper’s arrangement of a Georg Philipp Telemann string quartet, which showed their virtuosity – especially in a tricky fugal movement. They suddenly changed style in a Vivace they added to the Telemann.

Chris Braddock joined Graper on “Ballad for Kay” for two guitars by Nick Webb of Acoustic Alchemy.

After a dramatic Intermezzo from the opera “Goyescas” by Enrique Granados, a crack of thunder drowned the applause. The quartet continued with “Blue Tango” by Leroy Anderson, but those clouds burst and the crowd ran for cover.

The untimely ending left the crowd hungry for more, but no worries. Their appetite can be appeased on October 18 at Kennett Flash in Kennett Square, when BGQ will repeat the show and feature Mark Unruh in a ragtime/swing song that garnered him a bluegrass guitar prize.

See www.myspace.com/brandywineguitarquartet.
Dan Graper’s music: www.myspace.com/dangraper.
Chris Braddock’s music: www.braddockmusic.com.