Blazing Vision

Richard Aber’s intriguing and obliquely charming new exhibition at the Manne Gallery goes by the punning title of “Fire Works”--just in time for its Fourth of July weekend opening. But the phrase also represents a case of deadpan truth in advertising.

Though usually a sculptor with a conceptual agenda who showed at Ventura College last year, Aber shows a series of paintings, that, at least on the surface, are loosely referential to the effects and aftereffects of fire. Behind those allusions, however, the works contain rich visual qualities that speak on their own abstract terms. With this work, Aber is exploring a mode of art that bridges physical and intellectual processes, and doing it with style.

The “Provenance” series consist of large squares and rectangles, in acrylic on plaster ground, in which black and rust colors interact, a bit uneasily. Evocations of flame and smoke and a general sense of combustion emerge in these paintings, but they can also be viewed, simultaneously, as more purely visual meditations.

Sculptural thinking enters the picture more apparently in the artist’s “Veil” series, literally altered by fire. Dreamily painted backgrounds, in gold and sky blue hues, vertically streaked, give way to ragged bursts of black. They suggest tiny explosions, the stuff of forensics.

In fact, Aber achieves the effect honestly, by lighting tiny dowels stuck in the surface, creating contained yet erratic carbon images. Nature provides the design; the artist provides the template. The sum effect of Aber’s new work is, at once, unsettling and seductive, like fire itself.

* Richard Aber, “Fire Works,” through Aug. 2 at the Manne Gallery, 1129 State St., Santa Barbara. Noon-6 p.m., Wed.-Sun.; (805) 564-5022.

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The Finer Art of Stenciling: Art, craft and practice intersect in a fascinating way in the exhibition “Carved Paper: The Art of the Japanese Stencil,” at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. It’s one of those shows that sneaks up on a visitor, who might expect little more than casual diversion from a show of stencils used to print fabric.

The exhibition, based mostly on the museum’s own holdings, illustrates the art of “katagami,” or “pattern paper,” a process of carving minute and elaborate designs into specially made and treated paper. This textile-dyeing process, dating to the 12th century in Japan, results in custom-made fabric and patterns that are highly collectible artworks in themselves.

In many of the examples here, mostly from around the turn of the century, elements of flora and fauna are interwoven with design-oriented patterns, as in “Bats Elongated Into Undulating Stripes” and “Whirlpools With Prawns and Fish and Tiny Fishermen.” Elsewhere, ethereal linear effects depict foliage in sunlight and shadow.

Optical illusion, and manipulation, also play a role. The ornamental maze of lines and forms in “Nested Diamonds” has a dizzying effect one could relate to Op Art’s obsessions decades later. “Pine Boughs and Flying Cranes” is a composite of two stencils, doubled up for added visual complexity.

In an age when the state of visual design is moving away from physical process, the mind-boggling exacting handiwork of these pieces can’t help but dazzle. Their intrigue is partly related to the recent increase of interest in quilts in the fine-art world: In both cases, refined design and detailed hands-on craftsmanship offer a glimpse into a different time and place and way of working.

Call it art, call it craft, but the work is impressive, by any handle.

* “Carved Paper: The Art of the Japanese Stencil,” through Aug. 9 at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St. Tues.-Thurs., Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Fri., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m.; (805) 963-4364.