“What extraordinary imagination!” “I don’t get it!” “Her colors are wonderful!” These were some of the immediate reactions visitors voiced to “Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels”, which recently opened at the Neuberger Museum in Purchase.

 

By Arthur Stampleman

 

“What extraordinary imagination!” “I don’t get it!” “Her colors are wonderful!” These were some of the immediate reactions visitors voiced to “Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels”, which recently opened at the Neuberger Museum in Purchase.

Schutz, 34, the winner of this year’s Neuberger Young Artist Prize, is already in the collections of major museums and collectors here and abroad, and has shown at the Venice Biennale. A native of the mid-West, she lives and works in Brooklyn.

 

The Neuberger exhibit is a survey of Schutz’s work from the time she artist received her MFA from Columbia in 2002. The show consists of 30 paintings and 10 drawings arranged chronologically and according to various themes.

 

Schutz does not paint from real-life observation or photos, but from an imaginary world of narratives, allegories, and strange situations people find themselves in. While she typically focuses on the human figure, she rarely tries to be precise or entirely natural. She takes liberties with the human body and abstraction.

 

Viewers may or may not agree with Schutz’s point of view, but her works draw us in and challenge us to explore further.

 

The mood or feeling of each painting varies — ranging from humorous to absurd to disturbing. The unique aspects of Schutz’s work are illustrated in four of the works in the show.

 

Reclining Nude, from her “The Last Man on Earth” series, imagines a fictional last man on earth, Frank, painted by the last artist on earth. We see him naked, bewildered, and sunburn-pink on a beach. It prompts comparisons with traditional reclining nudes.

 

Schutz says she recycled Frank to paint The Breeders, a portrait of two members of a rock band in a forest. Visitors see them popping out of sunburn-pink shells in the form of Henry Moore sculptures. You find yourself looking for body parts and musical references in the forest.

 

In Men’s Retreat, eight men are walking, sitting, or playing games in a field. Schutz says the scene is an executive retreat with captains of industry working various conspiracies.

 

The artist’s “Verbal Series” (all include three words) looks at individuals trapped by or facing conflicting tensions in everyday activities. It focuses on three words in each painting, often a combination that does not make sense. Swimming, Smoking, Crying looks at three totally unrelated actions, which Schutz links to reflections of her high school swim team.

 

Regardless of the subject, Schutz’s paintings are striking. The compositions are focused, balanced, and complex, the central subjects are forceful, and the colors bright and appealing.

 

The show runs through December 18. The Neuberger is open Tuesday through Sunday, 12-5 p.m. For more information, call 251-6100 or go to www.neuberger.org.