BABCOCK
This elegant exhibition of intimate collages and larger paintings chronicled the artistic legacy of Helen Hoie, who died two years ago at the age of 89. Her small works on paper often served to inspire acrylics on canvas that are trompe l'oeil representations of these abstractions, but the finely nuanced collages are fully. realized worlds in their own right.
In several of these picture perfect gems, pieces of cloth, painted paper, antique documents, and wax seals are arranged to suggest the landscape. Evoking a nocturnal marine scene and the spirit of Arthur Dove, Nightfall (1980) transforms a bit of bark and a strip of corduroy into a boat on a beach, and artfully placed individual threads rise like slender reeds in front of a gunmetal blue sea. In Fugue (1985), a rectangular piece of pink silk scuds across a muted green sky. Three bits of torn black tissue paper look much like a trio of birds winging their way above a golden littoral, and the frayed fabric mimics the airflow around the closest bird's beak. The image's quiet color and deft sense of balance have much in common with the collages of William Dole, an artist whom Hoie greatly admired.
Snippets of sheet music and such titles as Cadenza, Toccata, Mood Indigo, and Passing Interval remind us that Hoie was a classically trained pianist, and underscore the musical aspects of her art: harmony, rhythmic repetition, and improvisation all play important roles.
Written in a fine, calligraphic hand, the word "Witnesses" reappears in quite a few images. Excerpted from centuries-old deeds, the injunction invites viewers to look thoughtfully at Hoie's pictures. Doing so reveals the sensitive, lyric spirit of their creator.
--Gerard HaggertyNEW YORK REVIEWS Art News/November 2002 pp.271