Paseo galleries taking international view of art with current and upcoming exhibits

A solo show featuring paintings by Pavel Wang Yu Tsai, including "Tailor," is on view through Saturday at the Paseo Originals Arts Gallery.

From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

Paseo galleries taking international view of art
Column: Paseo Originals and Visions in the Paseo are adding more artists from outside the United States to their slates of local, state and national exhibits

Descending the short flight of steps inside the Paseo Originals gallery is currently a bit like transporting to another world, as good and evil battle in a high-stakes game of chess, a master tailor sews wings for angels and a potter places his molded figures into a fiery furnace knowing that only the strong will survive.

As fanciful and surreal as the view of the cosmos depicted in the 29 paintings can be, their origins are almost as fantastic for a fledgling Oklahoma gallery: The exhibit “From Russia with Love: A Retrospective of Fantasy” constitutes the first serious solo show in the United States for respected Russian painter/teacher Pavel Wang Yu Tsai.

“There is a common message of hope and optimism, but typically the work is dark and as far as subject matter, it’s variant and really strong,” Gallery Director Tony Morton said of the exhibit.

“His work is incredibly diverse. He’s done Western stuff, he’s done series that focus specifically on religion, he’s done series that focus specifically on iconography. … Stylewise, they’re surreal, but it’s not the type of surrealism we see around here.”

While Yu Tsai has shown a few works in group shows — including the prestigious Prix de West at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum — his first U.S. solo exhibit coincides with a growing focus on showcasing international artists at Paseo Originals and neighboring gallery Visions in the Paseo. Both galleries opened in November 2010 with similar progressive ideals.

“One of the things that I want to do through this gallery is to show what art can be,” I think people often times, especially outside this state, have a very misconstrued idea of what Oklahoma art is. When I went out to Laguna (Beach, Calif.) a month ago, I seriously got the Indians and teepees things more times than I can count … and there’s a lot more than that here,” Morton said.

“The last five years has shown how progressive the arts community has become here and … the cultural diversity in art that we’re seeing here has been expanded significantly. And I want to keep demonstrating that.”

With the exception of its long-running May festival, the Paseo Arts District is known primarily for showcasing the wares of the neighborhood’s numerous working artists. But Jennifer Barron, the new executive director of the Paseo Arts Association, said adding international exhibits to the mix can benefit the district’s many studios and galleries.

“I think it makes a stronger art community when you have influences coming from inside

Black-and-white landscape photographs by Swedish artist Hakan Strand will be on view in October at Visions in the Paseo gallery.

and from outside. It fosters a sort of exchange of ideas and … creativity,” Barron said. “It brings a new perspective to the artists who are down here and to visitors who come to the Paseo. It offers something that they don’t get to see all the time. I think it just shows how much the district is growing that we have the space to bring in these artists from all over not only the community and the city but the world.”