Dinagators, etc.

by Dave Madden

From In Pittsburgh, Oct 14, 1999

Kathleen Zimbicki's South Side gallery, Studio Z, is celebrating its 24th year of showcasing art in Pittsburgh. Her current exhibit, dinAgAtors, etc., combines her own watercolors with the papier-mache sculpture of Gene Fenton. The two of them had independently begun centering their art around dinosaurs, alligators, and other animals. When they realized this, the obvious conclusion was to do a combined show.

It's amazing that Zimbicki and Fenton didn't work in collaboration. The similarities aside from basic subject matter are astounding. Zimbicki's work, for instance, is an exercise in color, using nothing but the brightest and boldest shades to capture the exoticism of her jungle scenes. The "birdagator" series all share the same general content ... one bird, one gator ... but Zimbicki plays with composition and color, blending the form of the bird into that of the alligator. The purple she uses throughout perfectly complements the wine-colored bodies of Fenton's sculptures.

And while those sculptures are scary, they're playfully scary. Many of these dinosauresque creatures are hollow and open in the back, rendering them potentially useful as vessels in the homes of those whose decorative sense leans toward the bizarre. Fenton says his inspiration comes from black-and-white monster films ... and the large "dinobug" and the twisted "Lockness Grin" leave no doubt about the matter.

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