"Please don't let me fade from your heart. I don't want to die a second time." These words by artist-poet Dario Robleto might well be those of Emma Frye, calling out from her grave to the audience viewing "Heaven is Being a Memory to Others" at the museum she founded with her husband. In this unique exhibition, Robleto honors Emma's memory by drawing together selections from the Frye Art Museum's collections and combining them with his own sculptural installations. The concept took shape during Robleto's residency at the Frye. As he researched and became familiar with the collections and their history, he realized that almost nothing is known about Emma, who with her husband selected most of these artworks and bequeathed them to Seattle. Although specifics exist about the life of Charles Frye, details of Emma's life and her role in the establishment of this museum are mostly missing. Robleto decided to memorialize Emma, to give her a new legacy by imagining her as lover, bride, wife, thwarted mother, music aficionado, art collector and civic benefactress. He chose a total of 20 paintings from the original Frye collection -- portraits, landscapes and images of family groups, female martyrs and children. These are exhibited in four large galleries along with four installations he created for this show. This is a spare exhibition, yet all the more powerful because of it.Each gallery has a theme. The most beautiful room is called An Instinct Toward Life Only a Phantom Can Know. On the walls are paintings of children. In the center stand three female figures. A bride, wearing a creamy 19th century wedding gown, is flanked by sorrowing female figures in 19th century mourning dresses. Hundreds of Robleto's intricately cut paper flowers trail behind them like a wedding train. Except for the cloth dresses and their adornments, the entire installation, including the faces of the figures, is created from hand-made paper flowers in shades ranging from black to white. It's an aesthetically lovely composition with deeply moving overtones. For instance, the paper from which Robleto fashioned the flowers is hand made, composed of cotton mixed with ground passion flowers. In each of his installations, the materials are related to the subject matter in symbolic ways. The careful visitor who reads the labels (including the list of materials used to make the piece) will be amply rewarded for that effort.One of the crucial characteristics of Robleto's work is that he assiduously collects materials with meaning and reworks them to create the many parts of the installations. Not only did he make the paper from which his flowers are assembled, he also learned glass blowing to create the hourglasses in another of the installations, and made the inks used throughout, as well as wood containers and metal locks. He collected plant and faunal materials, volcanic ash from Mount. St. Helens, and audiotapes including one purported to be the oldest sound recording ever made. "Heaven..." was created for the Frye about the Frye. It unites past with present, offering a contemporary artist's vision as it relates to the history of the museum. As such it both honors the legacy of the museum and makes the collection more relevant to contemporary audiences. "Heaven..." will be joined on May 17 by another exhibition, "Dario Robleto: The Alloy of Love." This show is a 10-year survey of Robleto's work that includes sculptures, installations, prints, collages, drawings and photographs. Curated by Elizabeth Dunbar at Arthouse at the Jones Center in Austin, Texas, it will travel to New York. This is the first time the entire museum will be devoted to a single artist. Robleto's work offers emotional meditations on love, loss, longing and the human desire for immortality. It is deeply affecting and lingers in memory."Heaven is Being a Memory to Others" runs through August 10, 2008 at the Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Avenue. Tues. - Sat. 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursdays until 8:00 p.m., Sundays noon to 5:00 p.m. 622-9250, www.fryemuseum.org. Free parking and free admission.[[In-content Ad]]
