Awash in War's Pigment

Professor Du Chau has a remarkable and flexible mind. In addition to a long career in laboratory sciences, he also teaches sculpture at a local college. He first popped onto our radar in early 2012 when Kirk Hopper Fine Art featured his work in one of the gallery’s smaller viewing rooms. One in particular, “Inch by Inch,” cascaded off an entire wall’s length — a waterfall of musical wires, with each piece anchored at its base with a porcelain rose stem. It was lovely, enticing and designed so that viewers could play the work of art musically by running their fingers across it like a harp. The gallery’s staff told us that Du Chau would be Kirk Hopper’s featured main room artist in 2013 and now, a year later, it’s time. And wouldn’t you know it, he’s gone and surprised us all over again. Rather than working with ceramics, he’s opted for silk-screen. The new show, which runs through February 9, is titled The Color of my Memory, and relays Du Chau’s mental screenshots of the Vietnam War as he still sees them, right down to the hue. Layered images, with some pixels faded into ghost-like transparency, give you a haunting look at these landscapes that, over time, have dimmed and faded around their most brutal points. See it at Kirk Hopper Fine Art (3008 Commerce St.), or visit on Tuesdays through Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m. Visit kirkhopperfineart.com.
Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: Jan. 5. Continues through Feb. 6, 2013