Alumnus transcends all labes in latest exibit

Tuesday, May 14, 1996

Modern artist shows ‘personal’ works in independent galleryBy
Rodney Tanaka

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

William Lane creates life, not in a lab with lightning but with
a canvas with acrylics.

"William Lane: Paintings," at the First Independent Gallery
through June 8, features abstract work from the UCLA alumnus. His
paintings engage the senses by constructing patterns of light and
color.

"When I’m painting I’m looking for a moment when colors and the
shapes that contain the colors produce an interesting tension,"
Lane says. "When this happens the painting does come alive from the
physical, inert surface and paint out of a tube."

"Doubles" frames red and orange rectangles with blue and
blue-green bars. The painting moves beyond the materials to suggest
physical space.

"There is a sense of spatial sensations beyond the design of the
surface," Lane says. "Things happen, there’s a presence that moves
beyond surface and variations of paint."

Lane says the paintings sometimes begin with memories or
sensations. The full impact of his recollections often manifests
itself only after the work is completed. For example, "Baja" comes
from his travels through the desert region of California. The
painting is divided into four bands of color with gray on the
bottom and warm, earthy tones on top.

"I think it has a kind of dry quality to it," Lane says. "It’s a
sparse, elemental sensation which made me think of Baja, which is
an arid desert but it’s also very beautiful."

"Star Lane" also finds inspiration from a desert, the Joshua
Tree, where the artist owns a home. Lane lives on Star Lane, and he
named the painting because of its similarities to the area.

"The blues and greens framed with warm colors are not real
aggressive," Lane says. "It has the quality of a dry, luminous
sensation and it made me think of the light in the desert."

Lane decides on the medium used for a particular painting based
on the textures and feeling of the piece. Many of the works in the
show are painted on wood and the grain show through the colors.

"I like the way the paint goes on, the physical surface
sensation," Lane says. "Sometimes I try to get them finished to
keep them alive. I like it to come out naturally."

Lane uses the unnatural elements found on rice paper to enhance
"Pavilion." The grid used to guide character writing seeps through
Lane’s paints.

"I bring my concerns as a painter to work in counterpoint to the
grid," Lane says. "It seemed to have possibly an Oriental feel to
it, whatever that means."

Lane says he wants viewers to find their own meaning in his
work.

"I’d like them to physically relate to balance, order and
tension and arrive at something," Lane says. "I like people to
relate to a sense of that attractive color situation."

Lane describes his work as minimalist and reductive. He became
interested in the form while studying art at UCLA in the late 1950s
and early 1960s. Terms such as abstract and minimalist give Lane an
uneasy feeling.

"I hope I transcend those cool, intellectual descriptions," Lane
says. "I think a really good painting comes alive and a good
painter produces good things to look at.

The viewers will look at incidents and emotions culled from the
artists life and experiences.

"I hope someone looks at the paintings in a somewhat personal
and original way," Lane says. "They’re seeing the way I sense, and
like any painting it’s autobiographical."

ART: "William Lane: Paintings," at the First Independent Gallery
through June 8. Artist’s reception on Saturday, May 18 at 4 p.m.
For more info, call (310) 829-0345.

Photo by SHAWN LAKSMI

Photo Illustration by BRENTON MAR/Daily Bruin

Artist William Lane