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ARTS<br />
J.W. FIKE<br />
at Bokeh Gallery<br />
By Amy L. Young<br />
As a born and raised East Coaster with a visual<br />
affinity for straight lines, giant buildings and<br />
post-industrial decay, the desert landscape wasn’t<br />
an easy sell for me. I am guilty of—for a period<br />
of time—maintaining the ridiculous, easy and<br />
tired perspective of, “It’s just so brown.” A pretty<br />
embarrassing admission for a person whose<br />
life is steeped in the visual arts. It was the arts,<br />
however, that led me to explore this region’s<br />
mountain and desert areas, discovering the<br />
complex and fascinating plant life and all of its<br />
combined real and mystical beauty.<br />
The metro Phoenix area is home to a number of<br />
artists who showcase and interpret elements of its<br />
natural world, sometimes recreating it, other times<br />
physically incorporating it into their work. In either<br />
case, seeing these artists’ compelling takes on<br />
our surroundings is a great pathway to developing<br />
a personal relationship with them. This month,<br />
Shade Projects is presenting the Photographic<br />
Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of Arizona, a<br />
solo exhibition by J.W. Fike, in Bokeh Gallery (at<br />
monOrchid). Fike’s solo show offers a truly magical<br />
look at the plant life with which we are fortunate<br />
to co-reside.<br />
First off, Fike’s mastery of his medium is<br />
undeniable. He has formal training in photography<br />
and drawing, and has been exhibiting his artwork<br />
in galleries and museums for a couple of decades<br />
now. He also serves on the art faculty at Estrella<br />
Mountain Community College. The presentation<br />
and composition alone provide an eye-catching<br />
invitation to take a deeper study of these works.<br />
The pieces feature solo plants floating against a<br />
black background and are brought to completion<br />
through an interesting process. Fike excavates the<br />
plants and then does further arranging and the<br />
photographing in the studio. He then uses digital<br />
tools to render the edible parts in color, allowing<br />
the rest to be read as contact prints.<br />
The overall results are vivid and remarkable. The<br />
plant at the fore of each photograph is electric.<br />
Even with the visibility of the roots and the<br />
apparent effects of the excavation, the plants look<br />
and feel vibrant and alive. The colors that highlight<br />
the edible portions come across as both sweet and<br />
important nods to science, further emphasizing the<br />
life cycle, and even our own personal relationships<br />
with nature. When the viewer looks beyond the<br />
plants and into the infinite black backgrounds,<br />
the pieces have a lost-in-space effect, inspiring<br />
reflection and examination, and evoking the pure<br />
magic of the unknown that surrounds everything.<br />
“Hauntingly beautiful” is how Shade Projects’<br />
curator, Nicole Royse, describes Fike’s work. “It<br />
results in striking and mystical imagery,” she<br />
continues. “He blends traditional contact prints<br />
and photograms with modern tools, creating<br />
refreshing images of everyday plants. The color<br />
draws in the viewer’s eye throughout the work.”<br />
This body of work is part of a larger effort on Fike’s<br />
part. He’s already photographed plants in seven<br />
different states and ultimately wants to cover<br />
the entire United States. This show is a solid and<br />
intriguing examination of our personal and global<br />
ecological approaches, and how those can evolve.<br />
J.W. Fike<br />
Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of Arizona<br />
Through October 30<br />
Bokeh Gallery at monOrchid<br />
www.monorchid.com<br />
London Rocket<br />
Plantain<br />
Wild Ginger<br />
16 JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE
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