Going in
Never a Dull Moment
Lois Main Templeton
Editions Limited
Through June 11
In Lois Main Templeton’s first abstract painting, completed more than three decades ago, a controlled exploration of shades of brown, black and white spans the canvas in mostly vertical blocks of color, one blending into the other but with clear boundaries. There’s a section in the lower left corner that Templeton says is the best part of the painting, according to her instructor at the time. To the uninitiated, and even the initiated, it may be difficult to know what she means. Such is the difficulty of pure abstraction — and one of the reasons it gets such a bad rap from some art viewers.
But Templeton bridges the gap between those who “know” a good abstract painting (or section of it) when they see it, and those who don’t know, or pretend to know, but are willing to take a look.
Templeton’s Never a Dull Moment (on view at Editions Limited), originally dubbed a retrospective, offers a view into the inner explorations of the artist by way of her art. But shortly before the exhibition opened, Templeton revealed that the exhibition is, as she wrote in her journal, “NOT a ‘retro.’ Good. Feels more alive.”
How like Lois to use a journal entry for her artist’s statement. Later on it goes like this: “An artist is usually her own worst critic. Paintings, like kids, need breathing room so that they develop their identities during the time you have together.” Such a dialogue has characterized Templeton’s work over the years, captured beautifully in her The Studio Book, a conversation between herself and her paintings, and reflections for the rest of us to ponder and enjoy, and frequently nod in affirmation.
Templeton, in her late 70s but nowhere near retirement — at least by the looks of her and her work — is getting ready to take some time off, do some traveling and eventually move more or less permanently to Maine. While she may not like to be celebrated in such a “looking back” kind of way, this is a perfect juncture to take in what she’s offered us so far by way of her art, and her commitment to the community and to other artists. For instance, she writes about VSA (Very Special Arts of Indiana): “VSA arts is present both as a feeder of my work and a satisfaction for me as a person. In VSA one wants to listen, look, watch, point out, affirm — and take a little further.”
Templeton has always taken her art a little further: further than prudence might allow, in the sense of exploring the undiscovered, doing the undone, truly listening to what her brushes — an extension of her own psyche — have to say. Many are afraid to lend an ear inwards; but Templeton has that confidence, which has nothing to do with arrogance. It has to do with being present, and being open.
In the exhibition, which is lovingly hung by Marta Blades, who will retire this summer after many years at Editions, Templeton’s many voices are brought together into a cohesive whole, from the bold near-primaries of paintings such as the 2005 “That Sassy Little X,” packed with color, to the spare but equally bold, and much earlier vintage “Saturday, I took my dragon for a walk,” a deceptively minimal flourish of dripping black paint and a splotch of fire red on a wall-spanning canvas.
Templeton also offers her small-scale watercolors and mixed media collages, which are just as spontaneous and just as enigmatic. But are they enigmatic, really? Templeton’s unabashed honesty — on one canvas she writes, “I bellow my mass / and my lust / and my pride” — isn’t concealed, even though she layers her text with paint and vice versa. I can’t read the words in “I Would Be a Washer” (2002), a pastel-hued painting with a large circle — an egg? The sun? The swipe of a cleaning cloth? No matter; it could be any of these things and none at all. Templeton’s authenticity is in her willingness to go in and see. She hands her emotions onto the canvas in all their complexity and simplicity. Joy, anger, sorrow, delight; or all of the above.
Knowing when to hold back, knowing when to hold forth, Templeton’s intuition guides her brushes, extends paint onto surface. Whether she’s responding to a jazz riff or the divorce of her daughter, we get where she’s coming from, and we’re glad to be there, too.
Lois Main Templeton’s Never a Dull Moment is on view at Editions Limited Gallery of Fine Art, 838 E. 65th St., through June 11. Call 466-9940 for information and hours, or visit www.editionsltd.com. Templeton’s The Studio Book is on sale at Editions and the Indiana Historical Society gift shop.