Blistein’s
sculptures range
from abstract “Five Finger Exercises,” where the hand has enjoyed
shaping
and molding a pliable substance which is then cast in shiny bronze, to
“environments” where little rooms are created by narrow bars of metal
and are
settings for nightmarish dramas.
While the “Five Finger Exercises” delight in form for its own sake, the
“environments” emphasize the dark side of the id. Here are found
half-formed fetal images and male figures with grotesquely expanded
chests and
eviscerated abdomens. One piece combines a crucifixion and a
fetal image.
Another depicts a figure in a room lined with skulls. One has the
same
feeling here as when viewing photographs of Nazi prison camps.
Blistein
combines undulating curves
and beautiful arabesques of line with sharp angles and
geometrics. He
contrasts delicate traceries with heavy, solid forms, sometimes
combining shiny
metals with matte finishes. The play of contrasts is rich and
sensual,
almost sexual.
Blistein
has a few “self-portraits”
in the show too. The most memorable is a head opening to reveal
an animal
(a ram?) eating its own entrails.
This
is not the comfortable art we
usually encounter . . . Absent here are the academic games of form and
color
appealing to one’s esthetic nature and sense of well being. This
is not
art for the Aristotelian who believes art must only be beautiful.
This
represents the Eugene Veron school of thought that believes art should
be
expressive of the feelings of the artist.
The
size of the Blistein sculptures
allows the viewer a degree of relativity, since they are of table-top
dimension. If done life-size or larger-than-life, the effect
would be
devastating.
Melissa
Moss, Critic