"The current exhibit in the Vermont Arts Council's Spotlight Gallery is a series of new work by Montpelier artist, Frank Woods.
KIMONO is an exhibit that captures the Japanese cultural icon in a variety of media. Woods uses the kimono's outline as a vehicle through which he pursues his interest in abstraction and in surface design. In mixed media works on paper, and in paintings in oil on panel and canvas, Woods uses the familiar T-shape of the kimono as a template to provide structure as well as continuity from one piece to the next. The appearance of flatness in these works is not accidental. In fact, the very flatness of the stylized kimono shape is what holds attraction for him. At the same time, surface treatment and mark-making serve to offset the flat quality inherent in these pieces and to give them some of the flow and body of the real/original, draped, elegant silk garments from which this collection springs. In most of these pieces the viewer will find that what occurs in the space outside the kimono's outline is as important as what takes place within it. Of course, neither space exists without the other. Using this form as inspiration opens the way for the artist to explore the possibilities offered by fabric and the construction of wearable kimono."
- From the VAC...
