Dole’s recent collages are the subject of his fourth one-man show in the Museum of Art. His bits and pieces of paper, mostly of exotic origin, gain an intrinsic value when passed through his hands. He apparently banks them as some do money, with miserly glee, and is correspondingly sparing and economical in their use. The papers, varying from ricepaper thinness to the heft of solid rag, were ordinary once, but only in their individual context. Dole understandably regards them as collectors’ items and he arranges them meticulously, surely, and with tortuous consideration. Japanese calligraphy figures prominently in many of them. Small Beach Scene has a rump of hill, a slash of blue water, and a cool gray sky. The hill is designed partly with oriental lettering and has a human feel if not contour to it. Tower of Babel: Construction Detail using many papers, oriental ones not the least among them, is richly built in shape and substance. Dole’s collages require taste, intelligence, and a nervous sense of civilization to be appreciated. The strength in his work is derived from a curious softness in their execution. But this can be interpreted as a weakness, for they are polished without any evidence of spit and cultivated rather than wrought. But art can be vital without being virile, and that seems to be the realm of Dole’s personal contribution.
––Larry Rottersman
