Jay Strommen, as a painter, ceramicist, and a sculptor, might be expected to jump genres. In this present exhibition, Strommen includes several three-dimensional works which complement his more familiar ceramic work. The artist has cast identical clones of a young child's head, and mounted them on bases of fired clay or wood. In this piece, six of the clones join as rank in file, while a seventh turns its back on them. In many of the paintings, a sheer exuberance of form and color, independent of any external reference, is enough to provoke the visitor's involvement and gratification.
Fortune does favor the prepared.
Five artworks at Gallery Park West present an additional genre currently being explored by this artist. In combining these, he further elaborates the whole with painted areas. In time, some gathered raw elements spark a sustained impulse toward a specific series of work. The five assemblage pieces at Gallery Park West are each mounted under glass in deep box-frames. The viewer himself is led into his own analogous experience.