Paintings of Giant Flowers Show Boldness

Larger-than-life flowers make perhaps the strongest impression, followed by rodeo cowboys and Indian dancers, in a show of 38 oil paintings by Midwest City artist Loreana Wrench at Oklahoma City University's Norick Art Center.

Flowers become almost abstract, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of the work of Georgia O'Keeffe, in several of Wrench's most boldly exaggerated paintings of the subject.

"Parrot Tulips" take over not only the picture, but the frame as well in two swirling, vertiginous compositions, while an "Orange Iris" becomes a world unto itself, except for two small gaps of blue sky.

"Rainbow Lily" has much of the impact of a landscape, not merely a floral study, and a single "Purple Iris" seems nearly figurative, suggesting a flamenco dancer's dramatic gesture.

A horse glares at us with more fire in its eye than its rider in Wrench's equestrian portrait of "Bill Pickett," silhouetted in front of a circus or rodeo tent, in one of the self-taught artist's more technically challenging works.

A "Yellow Fancy Dancer" could be performing on the moon, in front of a sky as black as space itself, making the colors of his costume stand out all the more dramatically in a painting of that title.

"Cowboy Cook" is one of Wrench's most probing portraits, even though the brim of her subject's western hat nearly covers his face as he takes a deep draw on a cigarette, holding a can of soda pop in his lap.

Sheer action, and the frozen moment when the rodeo cowboy is being bucked off his mount are emphasized to good effect in "Bull Rider" and "Fireworks."

More thoughtful is the mood of three cowboys on horseback who seem to be watching "The Train" pass them by and possibly their way of life in front of a magnificent mountain range.

Wrench's oil paintings remain on display through July 12 in the Hulsey Gallery at OCU's Norick Art Center.

Copyright 1998 Oklahoma Publishing Company
Record Number: 2035568