A figure: the shape of a form: the shape of a body. Sometimes that body is a group of numbers designed for understanding, enlightenment, reference; sometimes that body is a symbol; sometimes that body is the physical mass of living or non-living matter. However, what a figure, what a body always is, no matter how it is defined, cannot possibly exist without a where or a when. Even if alone a figure, a body or shape, is constantly juxtaposed with/in/part of a surrounding/reference that helps a viewer classify, define, and react to that figure. In this sense a figure, a body doesn’t exist without a place or a time.

In the stunning and fanciful work of artists CJ Metzger and Miss Mindy the idea of form, placement, and space are arrested and re-created in wonderful and quirky characters. The daughters of an artist and an engineer and the granddaughters of artists, creative ingenuity bleeds through the generations as rights to thrones does for kings and queens. This is not to say that the ladies’ success and creative talents are undeserved and merely inherited as can be seen through both Miss Mindy’s and CJ’s enthusiasm and diligence to promote and expand their own artistry.

CJ Metzger “Don’t Go Into the Woods”

Both artists working in the realm of pop-surrealism create within the gray areas between illustration, design, and art infusing their works with a personable charm, an undeniable talent, and a beautiful vision. While exhibiting strong character pieces, whether it is the petite frame of a girl with a village or house atop her head (a reoccurring Miss Mindy concept) or the heavy, secretive eyes with which CJ’s characters view the world, the individual works of art hang or float in an unidentified landscape, an unseen ground, an invisible world made visible solely through the characters themselves.

The world can only be seen through the characters by their countenance, the way the characters hold/carry themselves, the silent biography of their eyes and the relation this causes between the viewer and the character. There are, for the most part, no set backgrounds, no standing grounds, nothing at all and if there is it is vaguely surreal and evocative mainly existing to strengthen the persona of the character; nothing tangible outside the character – the only measure of tangibility existing in and through the characters.

Miss Mindy “Butterflies in Her Belly”

There is without fail, in the posture of the characters, through their eyes, in the dreamy backdrops behind, in the casual gestures or provocative smiles an interaction between the character and the world they inhabit and between the character and her world and the viewer. Through this interaction, this experience, does the viewer get an idea of the world, or land, that these characters come from and with that idea comes an image that is based upon the aesthetic of the character and the relationship that exists between that character and whoever happens to view him/her.

While a character, a figure, a body exists only in relation to that which surrounds it, that which surrounds the body does not exist solely with the body. The figure carves a hole in time, a place in the movement of aging that is it’s alone, nothing else’s. It belongs solely to the body because nothing else could possible create a movement like that bodies; it is wholly individual and creates a different look in every setting due to its originality. A figure only exists in conjunction with its surrounding because it creates its surroundings.

Miss Mindy “Petal Faster”

A figure is a product and an aspect of everything it was, is, and will be. It reflects that which surrounds it, that which it has been through, and projects a desire to continue through something else; but twists it in a way that only that particular figure, that body, could do. A figure is something that takes a land, a background, a surrounding with it because it can never be alone.

The characters of artists such as Miss Mindy’s ‘Doink, The Water Fairy’ create their own world. Doink has some help in this sense through the vague background, a few ripples of surrounding water, and also through the title’s descriptive powers; but, this is not to say that it ends there. Doink creates her aquatic world through her seaweed colored hair, reminding the viewer of the ocean floor and its kelp gardens with its sway as well as its color. Dink also poses as if half relaxed and floating, a comfort in the stance that seems to say it is not an uncommon place for her to be and that the few ripples are nothing that she is unfamiliar with, nor does it say that she is displeased by it through her coy smile.

In another one of Miss Mindy’s works, ‘Oh My Head’, the character is painted upon wooden panels that are specifically carved for each limb and different section of her body. The only seemingly hint to a background or land that the character would exist in lies in the land which rests atop her head – a rugged woodland. However, through the characters attire, a conservative country folk ensemble, the easy gait of the character, and her facial expressions the viewer begins to see a larger picture: the picture which surrounds and places the character.


CJ Metzger “Delilah Has a Cold”

‘Delilah Has a Cold’, a piece by CJ Metzger, is similar to Miss Mindy’s above piece as it also is painted wooden segments. The only revelation about her surroundings is her countenance, her attire, and two thorn branches coercing across her body; however, it is enough to place her in an unseen world that becomes very vivid through the idea of her figure. Her clothes, that of a thicker fabric seemed to be designed for warmth creating a sense of cold; furthermore the style of the clothing seems to be less fashion orientated and more functional creating not only a cold climate but a social standing for the character and the type of economic stability lies around her. Delilah holds her hands crossed over her lower stomach showing a forced sense of comfort in an uncomfortable area or situation; this juxtaposed with the branches and the colors of Delilah’s dress creates a sense of tension creating an uncomfortable landscape. Finally, Delilah’s pale skin and tired eyes create a look or worn and weary adding a sense of exhaustion to the cold and encroaching landscape that already exist within the mind of the viewer.

It is the figure that creates the landscape; that creates the world in which it inhabits. It is the figure, the body, which creates the world, not the world that creates the figure.

For more information regarding CJ Metzger and Miss Mindy or to view more of their work, please visit Gallery Revisited at their website www.galleryrevisited.com

Written by d/visible contributor Christopher Burkett

This entry was posted on Friday, April 13th, 2007 at 11:48 am and is filed under Art & Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.