The term “science fiction” might conjure up thoughts of alien invasions, superheroes or stranger things, but an exhibition called “Interface,” at Hexum Gallery in Montpelier, is way more subtle. According to a written introduction, the artwork on view has a “sci-fi aesthetic,” yet without this prompt, viewers might not pick up on the ostensible theme.
No matter. In the fertile imagination of owner-curator John Zaso — a self-described fan of sci-fi movies and literature — the five artists he selected for “Interface” evoke elements of the genre, whether futuristic or ancestral, earthy or … not.
Philadelphia artist Erin Murray uses ink and graphite to cover canvases and their frames with deep black and neon-bright symbology. Zaso described them as bioluminescent. The shapes she creates “make me think of computer interfaces you’d find on the bridge of futuristic starships,” he wrote in an email, “where some channel a dark post-apocalyptic world.”
The metallic-looking graphite abstractions by Brooklyn-based Charles Sommer make Zaso think of “eyewitness renderings of UFO investigations.” The black-and-white drawings are indeed mysterious.
Two other artists submit to the allure of antiquity and myth. Vermont artist Kerry O. Furlani presents wall-hung slate reliefs that center abstract or spare figurative forms. Their titles alone suggest archetypal stories: “Thalassa, Waiting to Set Sail,” “The Lost Hymn of Demeter.” Three terra-cotta skulls by Russian-born, New York-based Alexander Ney, from Zaso’s personal collection, are meticulously perforated in complex patterns.
“I see Ney’s skulls and the figures in Furlani’s work as extraterrestrial ancestors, superior alien overlords, overseeing civilizations and nurturing early humanity,” Zaso wrote. “Definitely futuristic but rooted in the ancient past.”
Zaso rounded out the exhibition with another sculpture from his collection, an untitled abstract work in bronze by the late artist and Syracuse University professor Rodger Mack. The freestanding piece conjoins twisty elements that seem pulled from a post-catastrophe scrap heap — some flattened, some elegantly turned.
“It makes me think of the creature in John Carpenter’s The Thing,” Zaso suggested, “where we see all of its different victims melded together.”
Or perhaps Mack envisioned the remnants of a ruined civilization recast in a material that can live forever.
The original print version of this article was headlined “In ‘Interface,’ Hexum Gallery Offers Glimpses Into Other Worlds”
This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2023.
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