Currier puts the spotlight on N.H. artists Gary Haven Smith and Gerald Auten

Although they use vastly different media expressions, the body of work by artists Gary Haven Smith and Gerald Auten at the Currier Museum of Art’s “Spotlight on New England” exhibit evinces a compatible camaraderie of abstraction.

“We chose to pair these two artists because we were intrigued by the affinities of form, pattern, and texture among the works,” says Andrew Spahr, curator of the Manchester gallery. “On one hand, the artists share a commitment to minimal abstract forms, and on the other hand, a dedication to a creative process that is spontaneous and intuitive. Both artists use techniques that produce work with sensuous surfaces that bare the marks of the creative process and the history of the object’s making.”

Smith, a sculptor and painter working in Northwood, carves elegant, abstract sculptures out of granite boulders found around his home. His work features patterns and textures often developed using computer-generated designs or inspired by ancient languages and symbols. Through this creative process, he explores the complex relationships between the natural environment, cultural history and modern technology.

Auten, who lives in Norwich, Vt., is a member of the fine arts faculty at Dartmouth College. He creates drawings with shimmering, reflective surfaces. He builds his compositions by alternately rubbing layers of ground graphite into paper, and then erasing portions of each layer. The subtle imagery of abstract geometric shapes emerges from and recedes into lustrous clouds of graphite.

Auten’s work often suggests complicated and contradictory relationships between two- and three-dimensional space. Depth of space is suggested by varying the relative value of the forms. Take “Pencilhead,” for example. This work features a cone shape sitting atop a black rectangle, with the semblance of an eclipse of the moon to its right. But the “cone” is what’s captivating. It appears convincingly three-dimensional—an illusion, of course. In reality, the shape resides on a flat surface.

Much more subtle in its contrast of black and white, and again capturing a three-dimensional effect, is “GHOS.” The image appears to be of horizontal striped bowls resting on a tabletop. The bowl blending out of the image on the left furthers the illusion of physicality with the perception that steam is emitting from the vessel. The powdery graphite substance Auten uses is burnished on the sheet of paper, creating an almost metallic sheen, then areas of white and varying degrees of gray are subtracted.
Smith’s work on the other hand, is totally three-dimensional. No illusion here. Using New Hampshire’s most common natural resource—granite—he manipulates the unyielding stone into pieces that furl like a flag on a windy day. He responds to the granite’s rough surface to create such fluidity it causes one to marvel.

Proving that such an unmalleable material as granite can be rendered an object of beauty, “Coming Around” epitomizes for the artist the challenge of his work. The unforgiving medium is demanding, but that very obstacle is what attracts Smith to stone. This piece shows his mastery of the medium—his ability to humanize it by making it seem vulnerable. The fragileness “Coming Around” projects reflects the human condition. The piece exudes a sense of organic presence in an otherwise inert material.

“Twist of Fate” obeys the nature of the stone more traditionally than some of the other more fluid, draping works that are Smith’s trademark. To make the voids in sculptures such as this one, Smith uses an industrial-sized diamond-wire saw. This work reveals how rigid material such as granite can be coaxed to yield under a masterful hand.

“Spotlight New England: Gary Haven Smith and Gerald Auten” will remain on display at the Currier Museum of Art through Sept. 13. The museum is at 150 Ash St., Manchester, 603-669-6144. For more information, visit www.currier.org. Linda Chestney can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it