By Paul Varnell

Contributing writer

The work of Chicago-born artist and sculptor John Storrs (1895-1956) falls into easily identifiable periods.

In the 1920s, influenced by his father, a sculptor and developer, Storrs worked primarily as a sculptor, creating tall, abstract geometric pieces in stone and various metals.

At the very end of 1930, having developed an interest in the growing Surrealist movement he began painting and drawing in more pliant but still largely abstract forms. He apparently was influenced in part by the gay American artist Marsden Hartley, a longtime friend, and the rounded tubular shapes of his friend Fernand Léger, as well as by viewing a major 1930 exhibition by Giorgio de Chirico in Paris where he spent much of his time.

As Debra Bricker Balken notes in her introduction to the catalogue of an exhibition currently on view at the Valerie Carberry Gallery, although Storrs did not adopt the doctrines of Surrealism, notably its obsession with Freud and the irrational, the movement “offered him the means to rethink the style of his work, to include forms that were variously allusive, haunting, sexualized and beguiling.”

During the war, as a part-time resident of France, he became engaged in political intrigue. He was twice arrested and imprisoned by German authorities during the Occupation for his support of the French resistance.

The life and death issues he and his colleagues faced during World War II had a decided effect on Storrs’ artistic outlook. After the war he apparently felt that non-objective art held less meaning for human life and his work took a turn toward the figurative. As he wrote to his friend, gallery owner Katherine Dreier, “After the war I had an overwhelming desire to be free of all restraints, including the restraints and limitations of…abstract forms.”

This exhibition of Storrs’ paintings and drawings is drawn from Storrs’ abstract work from the 1930s. But to say that the work is abstract is not entirely correct. It would be better to say there are degrees of abstractness. Several pieces have visible representational elements.

The early red, gray and black “Politics” (1931) contains at least three human profiles with open mouths, likely a comment on the perfervid rhetoric of the era, when Communists, Fascists and Nazis began to contend for attention and power.

Others are more completely abstract but show representational influence. The arrangement of shapes in an untitled 1936 drawing shows the definite influence of de Chirico’s paintings of the mid and late 1920s such as “The Poet and His Muse,” “The Terrible Games” and “The Painter’s Family.” Those were very likely among the works Storrs saw in de Chirico’s Paris exhibition of 1930.

“Noel” (1932) too is scarcely representational, but earns its title by its use of bright red and green, colors associated with Christmas.

Léger’s influence may be present in “Abstract Forms” (1931) with its central sinuous tube-like shape—consider the similarity to Léger’s “Black Chauffeur” (1919)—and even in the later “China-Japan” (1938) with its fluid shapes and the noticeable phallic shape at the upper right.

No doubt the most colorful piece in the show is “Fish Abstraction” (1938), which uses red, yellow, turquoise, and purple for various shapes. Despite the title, there is no clear evidence of a fish. According to gallery owner Valerie Carberry, Storrs’ daughter gave titles to many of his untitled pieces after his death, so she may have seen a fish-like shape in the painting—perhaps in the purple area near the center—but other viewers may be unpersuaded.

One unique piece in the exhibition is a completely abstract three-dimensional “low-relief” piece called “Assemblage in Shadow Box” (around 1937). Recalling Storrs’ metal sculptures in miniature, it is made of steel and brass on a bright copper background.

The recent Post-Modern turn in the arts has created an opening for a revival of interest in and appreciation for earlier artists who had been shunted aside by the temporary dominance of abstract expressionism and its polemical advocates. Exhibitions such as this one are a welcome reminder of the continuing vitality of the earlier traditions.

“John Storrs: Abstract Forms of the 1930s” is at the Valerie Carberry Gallery, 875 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2510 (entrance on Chestnut Street), through Feb. 29. Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Art Notes

estudiotres, 5205 N. Clark St., presents “Thaw,” a group show of five artists whose work reminds us that winter won’t last forever. The exhibit includes openly gay artist Rob Bondgren and photographer Davin Youngs. Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. and Sun. noon-4 p.m.

Gallery 180 of the Illinois Institute of Art, 180 N. Wabash, presents a preview exhibition of 2008’s Art Against AIDS. All proceeds from the sale of artwork goes to support the Heartland Alliance’s HIV/AIDS services. On view until Feb. 14 with a catered reception Jan. 25, 5:30-8 p.m. Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, hosts a floral-themed exhibit for the month of April 2008, open to all GLBT artists. Artists may submit up to three pieces of 2-dimensional art in any medium. Entries should include a brief bio, contact information and data about each piece. Send submissions in jpeg or bitmap (bmp) format to centeronhalsted@gmail.com. Deadline is Feb 14. For more information, send queries to the same email address.

—P.V.