Bret J Barrett - Transports of Form

Bret J Barrett is at it again, and quite possibly always at it, (I'm beginning to think he is some sort of Art machine that paints and produces more art machines). This time he is at it with a solo showing at the Art of Framing in his very own San Diego, a short worthwhile trip from Santa Ana and the reality of making a living. The show, Transports of Form, transports the viewer into the ultimate alternate reality. Forget the job, the wife, the kids, the retirement accounts, and how you think you are going to die. Just forget reality for a moment and let this work carry you to its alternate. The kinetic sculptures defy imagination or perhaps define imagination, blending natural forms with frenetic movements. With all of the kinetic pieces going at once, it feels a bit like mid day at the bug house. But hold on kids, because you will also see shiny plastic sculptures, one of a VW bus with elephant legs, a helio pink flamingo VW bug, a dolphin plane, and a variety of reptiles with sails. Who knows what Barrett is after with these. The show intro says it was all from a dream he had involving a two-legged blue squirrel? He is odd and weird. These pieces are so very different, yet so very everyday in their throwaway plastic way. The more I think about it, who cares what Barrett is after with these. Some comment on man and nature, no doubt. The plastic models that also show up in the paintings seem to represent different dimensions of the real in front of us on the table. They stand in front of the representation of these real things in the paintings. And don’t get too caught up in the images and symbolism, but take a close look at the brush strokes and the blending of the colors. The use of colors reminds me a lot of the Edward Hopper paintings I saw in Chicago that used blends of colors on the smallest scale to create an unusual sense of light. Don’t let the surrealistic images fool you. It is not simply about the images. Barrett’s paintings harken back to the true masters of realism, such as Hopper, and Winslow Homer. He has to be using the smallest of brushes and painstakingly applying thousands of them over time to create the magical sense of light. He is an artist who must benefit greatly from long bouts of insomnia. I was far too engrossed in the experience to take any notes on my walk through the gallery, and my post 40 synapses just don’t bring proper names to the fore, but I went back to bretjbarret.com to check out the pieces online and titles like Tank Chick, Dinosaur Jr. (could be a reference to the great band of the same name), and Reptilian Swashbuckler are in keeping with Barrett’s outstanding sense of humor. If you go to this show, and you should before it closes on Thursday, September 17th, you will be astounded. If you perhaps have a simplistic reaction such as more dancing penises, well, you’ve missed the point entirely. And that says far more about you than the art before you. Barrett’s work is for real, art for art’s sake, or should we say, for alternate reality’s sake.