Different Strokes

What do you get when you mix an abstract “doodler” with a hyper-realism artist and a furniture maker? Gold. Pure gold.

Different Strokes, the final show of 2009 at Robert Lange Studios, opened this past Friday. The exhibition’s title hints at its concept: a show made up of eleven works of art, each piece a collaborative work of two or more artists.

And the verdict is in: One is good. Two is great. Three is genius. Especially if the threesome in question is Nathan Durfee, Michael Moran and Robert Lange (pictured from right to left).

“This show was a new experiment. We wanted to try collaborating and see if it worked,” says Durfee. “It was difficult to let go of control and not worry about the end product, but in the end we all trust each other as artists, and we know that we will be okay with whatever comes back.”

It all began when Durfee, an abstract painter, asked Lange, known for his hyper-realism, to paint a tiny lion in the background of one of his paintings. The idea officially snowballed. Ten of the eleven works in the show are collaborative paintings by the two (five started by Durfee and finished by Lange; the other five started by Lange and finished by Durfee).

The eleventh piece is the real show stopper. It is a massive black walnut console table built by local furniture artisan, Moran. Sitting on top of the table is a rotating framed door that can be opened from either side. When you open one side of the door, you find a painting by Lange; when you open the other side of the door, you view the same exact scene, only painted by Durfee. It’s like Narnia without the clunky wardrobe. Three different artists, two different mediums, one beautiful work of art.

“We wanted the pieces to be laid back and fun – a starting off point for future collaborations,” explains Moran. “We wanted to dip our toes in the pool. And we realized, ‘Hey! There is a lot more pool out there!’”

One thing is for sure…there is a lot more where this came from.

“Charleston is a great city for artistic collaboration,” expresses Lange. “There is such camaraderie between artists here in Charleston. We really have an egoless art community.”

By the looks of it, Different Strokes is the literal fruition of artists working together to progress the city’s arts scene. Perhaps the melding together of different styles and points of view happening in these works will translate to our community at large. In the meantime, art us up.

Nathan Durfee blog
Robert Lange Studios website
Michael Moran website

Story by: Tara Miller