Posthumous Personality

As most people with even a slight familiarity with the area’s art scene knows, Beatrice Wood was a beatific yet looming figure. The ceramist, also known for her drawings and her link to art history--as a liaison with Marcel Duchamp and other 20th century icons--died at 105 in 1998. But in a sense, it’s like she never left, as her work gains a kind of posthumous presence in local galleries and beyond.

The latest glimpses of the woman nicknamed “Beato” show up at the G. Childress Gallery in Ojai. Here, a few of her ceramic vessels illustrate her distinctive, organic flair, and a few of her drawings illustrate her mischievous interests in things amorous.

Wood’s drawing style is minimalist to the point of child-like simplicity, a few curving lines hinting at figures in a scene. But in that simplicity is a quality of restraint, not to mention coy suggestion. In “Meeting the Wife,” for instance, the floating faces of a threesome tell an old story: two are blissful, enticed, while the third is stern, disapproving. The ambiguity of relationship of the “Two Girls on a Sofa,” from 1984, conveys a curious, liberal--and libertine?--spirit, in keeping with Wood’s rebellious split from her own Victorian roots.

Some artists are shy and retiring, letting their work do the work. Not Wood, whose vivacious personality, even after she hit the century mark, seemed linked to the creative persona responsible for the art. Photographers’ lenses loved her exotic countenance.

Los Angeles photographer Robert Hale’s images are a central part of this show, as it turns out. Included is a shot now on display at the Smithsonian Institution, in which Wood grins her famous grin, containing sly wisdom, sitting on the couch in her Upper Ojai home. Her hair is bunched into a neatly spun bun and she is wearing her customary Indian sari and florid jewelry. Her hands are arched, gracefully, and she projects an aura of poise and repose.

Other shots from the same session look more generic and posed, shots that one might find and ignore on a contact sheet, were it not for the celebrity of the subject. Images of Wood sitting amid, and nearly dwarfed by, foliage better capture the essence of the artist, who seemed part of the world yet always detached from its urban hurly-burly. Given that, Ojai was an ideal place to hang her sari.

Also in the gallery are works by owner Gayel Childress, further adventures with nudes in which abstraction plays an important role. These works feature looming limbs, a sense of covert eroticism and the contrary act of reading while unclad. Sculptures by Michele Chapin and Frank Lauran and Ted Gall are scattered about, as well.

But it’s hard to concentrate on anything with Wood’s face and art in the house. Such is the nature of a cultural icon, one who became synonymous with Ojai’s otherworldly character for so many years.

DETAILS

“ ‘B’ and Me,” through Oct. 5 at the G. Childress Gallery, 319 E. El Roblar Drive, Ojai. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; 640-1387.

* Josef Woodard, who writes about art and music, can be reached by e-mail at joeinfo@aol.com.