Commpattern=Arms with Hearts

Dennis Ray Beall

The technical skill, keen design eye, and dark humor of printmaker Dennis Beall make this surreal composition at once elegant and intriguingly disturbing. From a distance, “Compattern” resembles a Baroque playing card, and the black-red-white color scheme, sharply embossed edges, and expertly incised textures give the composition the feel of a high-end invitation, as if to welcome the viewer to a debutante's ball.

On closer inspection, chaos ensues. Wild, hair-like fibers collide with mutated shapes as if we are witnessing the destruction of a living thing. Hints of limbs and wings explode outward, yet remain within the refined border of the shaped plate, two perfectly intact hearts untouched in their respective corners. Beall’s works rarely allow the viewer to assume anything, and “Compattern” doesn’t deviate from that notion.

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