For a self-taught artist, Vernon Fimple is a surprisingly adroit draftsman. His undulating anatomical explorations, usually concentrated in the cranium, seem to evolve into other sections of the human body with flowing transitions that keep one guessing as to which is the real and which the false proposal. The sensuous silver-point style of execution, highlighted with white and pastel colors, creates visual mazes. What has decided to be a roll of grey matter soon becomes an arm which in turn transposes into a finger. Fimple’s presentation has much in common with Boris Artzybyasheff with a little of the cartoon quality, none of the macabre, and just a pinch of the humor.

The second of the duo, Luce Norc, offers a poetic pointillism carefully plotted on sponged surfaces of color. These occasionally border on optical art, since they set up mild visual vibrations which enliven the picture surfaces. Content only faintly reflects reality and when it does, it neither enhances nor detracts since the works themselves are so slight in interest as to permit indifference to the artist’s formal problems and solutions.

––Curt Opliger

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