"The Body Remembers What We Forgot" by Bill Dambrova. Photo credit: Mackenzie McCreary
I think it's the color that really gets me.
There's just something about the combination of colors and textures that pulls you into the caricature of multimedia artist Bill Dambrova's paintings.
This month, Dambrova's solo show entitled "The Body Remembers What We Forgot," is on display in MonOrchid's main-floor gallery. The stark white walls provide the perfect platform, allowing the paintings to explode from their mounts.
Each piece is a different world with its own leading character. Dambrova imbues different elements of human anatomy with bright, off-beat colors to create a profile of identity.
"Cupid" by Bill Dambrova. Photo credit: Mackenzie McCrearyYou cannot quickly glance at these paintings; you have to really tilt your head, squint your eyes and really see. You'll be able to make out the rough outlines of a face or a figure. The combined elements seem to make up an abstract version of the person they inhabit. Portrayals of lungs, small intestines, neurons and glands come together in a cartoon rendition the human body.
Dambrova's witty cartoons, while reminiscent of Northwestern Tribal masks, seem to hearken back to a favorite childhood past time of mine.
Do you remember the Magic School Bus? What about the episode where they travel into the human body? For some reason, I always liked to imagine what the inside of my body looked like. I assumed it was colorful and magical and made up of tiny little creatures that made my brain work, like that one Spongebob Squarepants episode.
Not only do Dambrova's paintings return me to that nostalgic time of unlimited imagination, but they also provide an intense look at all the bits and pieces that make up the human body.
"Coronal Vortex" by Bill Dambrova. Photo credit: Mackenzie McCreary"Coronal Vortex" was by far one of my favorites. The brain and its inner workings become the center of attention, taking on the facial structure of a skull, with Ishihara plates providing the eyes. (The Ishihara test is a color perception test that looks for color blindness deficiencies.)
The namesake piece, "The Body Remembers What We Forgot," was definitely the main event. Several characters and figures stand side by side in a class picture spanning the length and depth of anatomy. They compel the viewer to study and analyze. But they also call for the viewer to remember the different emotions and impulses lost to a hectic world of responsibility.
Like that spark of energy felt between you and a potential soul mate years ago, as portrayed in "Funny Feeling."
The paintings seems chaotic and energetic, but evokes the viewer to slow down and see what they may have forgotten, to recognize the muscle memory, the familiar aches and pains, the jump or slow in heart rate.
Dambrova's show will remain on display at MonOrchid through November 1. Escape the constant barrage of responsibility and dive into a world of color and imagination.
Have you seen the show? Share your thoughts and reactions with me at mamccrea@asu.edu or via Twitter @mmccreary6.
