Art Review of James Rauchman's work at River Arts
Art Review: James Rauchman, River Arts
by Pamela Polston of Seven Days
In all aspects of our operation, River Arts strives to embrace Arts for Everyone. But sometimes the art that we need isn’t tranquil landscapes or exemplars of mastery. Sometimes art needs to play the important role of reflecting back turmoil and uncertainty. Art can help us process our innermost demons and provide a space for healing and contemplation.
Pamela Poltson’s recent review of our current Folley Hall exhibit dug into the reasons why we are so excited to feature these less shown work by James Rauchman. Self: Reflection deliberately showcases a retrospective of self portraiture. The work makes it clear self portraiture has been a therapeutic tool to grapple with his identity as a gay man, process loneliness, reflect on moments of joy, and ultimately find love for himself. Perhaps this show will reach out to those members of our community who also struggling with feelings of isolation or otherness and be the bridge toward healing and self acceptance.
“Rauchman is by no means solely absorbed with self. His website reveals numerous impressionistic landscapes, genre scenes and watercolor portraits of friends produced during frequent trips to Cuba, as well as video-inspired and abstract acrylic works. But when curator Beth Weintraub Liberman visited Rauchman's studio, she was drawn to his self-portraits.
"His sense of light and line was still there but with completely different content," she said.
Rauchman acknowledged that self-portraits may be less commercially viable than landscapes, but, according to Weintraub Liberman, art sales are of secondary concern at River Arts. The gallery committee was open to a show centered on an artist's personal experience, she said.
To be sure, these are not "pretty" pictures. Rauchman is unsparing with creases in the brow, circles under the eyes. He renders the fringe of hair around his bald pate with aggressive jabs of white paint. A few works have a "melting" quality that recalls British artist Francis Bacon's unsettling forms.
This harsh physicality serves to underscore Rauchman's turmoil. The later paintings correspond to a recent period of conflict about his sexual preference, he revealed.
"When you realize you're gay, it's in the background all the time," Rauchman said. "But something came to a head in those years with family. I had to confront the issue publicly — confront certain people and be confronted." He is grateful that he "had the painting to express what I was going through."