SURFACE TREATMENT: New Stuff by Carl Vestveber

A utopian innocence seems to play the heartstrings at Carl Vestweber's exhibition, "New Stuff," currently on display at Manichaus Modern Art Space in McAllen.

Upon entering the exhibit space, there is a sense of disorientation and fragmentation among the art works. Although limited to painting and drawing, there seems a lack of commitment to a single line of thought. Two groups of untitled smaller works clustered on either side of the entrance present Vestweber's visual considerations: sketches of ink line and sensitive watercolor. Sometimes the sketch is abstract, most of the time it's representational.

His art has a lighthearted immediacy both in thought and facile technique, asking no more than a pleasant glimpse before moving on to the next one. His images revive the carefree life of childhood, seen through a memory reconstructed by imagination. It's like children's book illustrations with no story line. A ubiquitous disconnect is occurring. 

Vestweber describes a stream of consciousness method for making his art. " I look at my art as self-conscious over-dramatizations of my day's events. The reoccurring themes in these artworks represent my emotions as I make them, and this is how I make my art."

Many of Vestweber's works evoke a simple comic narrative style. Vestweber has created alter-egos whom he uses as proxies starring in his daily memories and present concerns. 

"I have a cast of characters," said Vestweber, "like the Robot is how I feel sometimes, just normally; that's when I draw. The Robot is the one that's kind of inquisitive and searching. There are a lot of robots that don't have any feeling, but mine does."

His painting, Robot, expresses his inner joy. Walking down a path bordered by lush greenery, sunlight bursts from the torso of the contented robot.

He explained his Chupacabra as being like an alter-ego of the Robot, the same shape, but a little bit more South Texas. The women images represent Vestweber's wife."

The mood in most works is light, yet strangely detached. Initially, there is annoyance that the artist isn't providing clear entrance to the meaning of these pieces. But on closer inspection, it becomes clear that the artist isn't always letting himself in, either.

"Some of these I don't remember what I was thinking when I did them," Vestweber confessed. "It's almost subconscious. The ships, I'm not really sure what they mean yet. I drew a lot of those, and they make me feel comfortable. There's a lot of beacons and stuff, and I think you could take that for whatever you want it to be. For me it's kind of a reaching out, trying to communicate with people, probably."

The key to "New Stuff" is the fact that Vestweber is still a student. He has not yet committed to a specific direction. He says that ideas come from teachers and other sources, even video games. About each new idea, he exclaimed, "I want to see how it works. Some of it becomes a part of my dialogue. Some of it doesn't. But I like all of it."

Like captured birds, his charming creations are curiously surrounded by oppressive black frames. Even Comic Book 1 suggests a cage. Does utopia have a downside? Out of the proverbial nowhere, carefully spaced throughout the show, are forceful paintings of erupting volcanoes. Frustration and fear exists and is unleashed.

"New Stuff" is a self-portrait of the artist. We see into his mind as he considers different artistic possibilities. Vestweber's not-so-carefree persona is summarized in Comic Book 1, a work with non-sequitur images. It is his life: his friends, his concerns, and his frustrations, all brutally isolated from each other by that ominous black grid.

"The moods might change," said Vestweber, "some might fade. I'm sure that's going to happen; that's the way life works."

New Stuff exhibit by Carl Vestweber

• Where: Manichaus Modern Art Space, 1301-B, North Main Street, McAllen
• When: July 11 to August 1. Mon-Fri: 12 Noon to 6pm; Sat: by appointment.
• Contact: 956-207-0940 or manichaus@gmail.com

View exclusive photos here