14 Sep 2017

Janet Hulings Bleicken: When I Grow Up I’ll Be a Painter Too

AVA Gallery and Art Center

Reviewed by Susan B. Apel

Janet Hulings Bleicken's exhibition, "When I Grow Up I'll Be A Painter Too," is a kind of time travel in which the artist revisits herself as a young child. Her works connect her to her child self's favorite artists, with whom she assumed a sense of belonging. Each painting pays homage by suggesting a work by Monet, or Picasso, or the artist she calls by his first name, Vincent. In the painting's corner, or in the foreground posing in the manner of the modern selfie, is the image of young Janet. In Picasso's Harlequin, she sits at a table with the painting’s two figures, unabashed and holding a bottle of Coke.

The audacity rivets, coupled with the innocent determination of a child who dreams big. Viewers are in on the wink; the act of viewing is proof that young Janet fulfilled her ambitions through the mature Bleicken's works.

Bleicken moves beyond sentimentality, portraying a child who seems equal parts sweetness and steel.