Edgy Art Finds a Home at Hastings in the Alley

By Julian Wise
Martha's Vineyard Times Art Summer/Autumn 2005 Feature

Stepping into the new Hastings in the Alley art gallery in Oak Bluffs is like falling down Alice's rabbit hole into a realm of provocative, multi-dimensional art work that both engages and challenges the viewer with its vivid, interpretive images. Owner Kate Goodridge has assembled a roster of artists whose interpretations of reality give credence to the saying that there's more than meets the eye. Her intent in opening the gallery is to provide an opportunity for boundary-pushing artists to display their creative visions.

The small, cozy space behind Tsunami restaurant near Oak Bluffs Harbor is set with soft white walls that give a comfortable, warm feel to the room. The gallery is currently displaying works by Max Decker, Chantale Legare, Anne Grandin, Rick Hoffman, Phillip Ross Munroe, Tom McQuade, and Ovid Osborn Ward.

Ms. Goodridge honed her artistic instincts while selling pieces at several prestigious Boston galleries and has created a body of work that reflects her interest in paradigm-challenging art that reflects the elemental nature of humanity beneath the distortions and delusions that cloud people's consciousness.

Artist Rick Hoffman's abstract piece "Sulfur," painted in searing yellow hues, is part of his series exploring subatomic particles and their connection to our innate, elemental nature. "This brings us back to our primal memory of what it means to be human," Ms. Goodridge says.

Chantale Lagare's sculpture of a mannequin-like female torso wrapped in twine is titled "Humanity," with the word humanity written in several languages across the torso. "This shows the beautiful things about what it means to be human, but then we're netted by our delusions of stress, racism, anger. We're clouded by delusions that keep us from evolving into kind, conscious humans. A lot of Lagare's work is about evolving to a higher consciousness.

Max Decker's paintings depict shadowed faces against a stark backdrop of urban landscapes with the angularity of bridges and buildings juxtaposed against the rounded, organic feel of the human form. "He's depicting the degeneration of humanity against a hard, angular world," Ms. Goodridge says. "He shows the competition, the hard angles, the sadness of it all."

Anne Grandin's work is infused with the aesthetics of Native American art with its emphasis on roundness and wholeness. Her piece "Passage" shows a boat passing through an abstract conglomeration of wooden beams into a softer, lighter landscape through the rounded tunnel. There's a feminine, holistic touch that's reminiscent of Georgia O'Keefe's finer work.

Painter Tom McQuade's abstract depictions seize the viewer with their fearless use of color. "Augustine," a piece inspired by a woman, is a fuchsia-toned wonder that blends a floral, feminine aesthetic into the canvas. "Notes" is his interpretation of what music would look like in visual terms, creating a trans-sensory experience with its blacks and whites emerging from background colors.

Photographer Phillip Ross Munroe's pictures depict men submerged in water, sometimes bound and other times swimming free. The submerged, aquatic images evoke prenatal beginnings.

Ovid Osborn Ward's recent work departs from his masterful photo-realism to explore more abstract, interpretive avenues. "The Large Blue Abstract" blends streaks of blue paint, whales, a window opening to a moonlit night, a green apple, an ace of spaces, and other seemingly disjointed objects into a hermetic whole.

"What I think is great about Ovid is the color he uses, the strokes, the images he's portraying," Ms. Goodridge muses.

If a collective theme runs through the work at the gallery, it's that there are transcendental levels of reality that go beyond our normal mundane perceptions.

"We're trying to process the unusual, the invisible out there," says Kate. "This work is challenging and exciting and unusual. It's multi-dimensional, intellectual and thought provoking. It's the challenge of the artist to get his or her unique expression out into the world to be heard, to have an impact and to bring awareness. It's the depth of what it is to be human."

Julian Wise is a freelance writer whose work frequently appears in The Martha's Vineyard Times and its supplements.