Wood, steel and cotton

Robert Friedrich does not subscribe to the adage of those who can't, teach.

He does both. "I always tell the kids I practice what I preach," said Friedrich, who's been an art teacher for 11 years at Cape Girardeau's Central High School.

As he walks into Gallery 1.2.5 Wednesday afternoon, Friedrich looks more like a doer than a teacher, more the starving artist than the scholar. His hair isn't neat and combed, he wears blue jeans and an old white T-shirt, and he carries wood sculptures that scream contemporary.

In his days at Southeast Missouri State University in the early '90s, Friedrich found a love of sculpture working under his mentor, the recently retired Dr. Ed Smith. Since then, he's been sculpting, primarily out of wood, just like Smith.

And like Smith, he's continued to produce art.

But rarely have his students and local art lovers had the opportunity to see an exhibition of Friedrich's work. His last exhibition occurred several years ago, when Friedrich teamed up with Matt Miller for a show at the H&H Building.

Tonight, Cape Girardeau will be reintroduced to Friedrich's figurative wood sculpture when he shows 28 of his pieces alongside 40 photographs by Cobden, Ill., photography artist Keith Cotton at Gallery 1.2.5. The work will hang in the gallery through Jan. 29.

Those who enter the gallery will get an immediate feel for what they'll find further back in the building. A small wall obscures most of the gallery from the door, and on that wall hangs two Cotton photos -- a bright image of a child, photographed from behind, looking out a door. Beside the photo is a negative of the same image. In between, sitting on the floor, is a 5-foot-tall Friedrich sculpture of a standing human figure, eyes in front of its face as if the figure is crying or engaged in a game of peek-a-boo.

Sculpture by Robert Friedrich, an art teacher at Central High School.

Friedrich's sculptures use wood as the medium, and their primary focus is the human form. Their bodies are sculpted in various poses, and their faces are blank.

The faces are not meant to convey meaning, though. "I want people to concentrate on the body and what that says," Friedrich said.

Some are incorporated with found objects: a head from a duck decoy placed on top of a human figure; a tall, stretched figure standing on top of a towing hitch called "Seventh-sixteenths of Burden"; earthenware human figures trapped in pistons from auto engines; a larger human figure sits cross-legged, arms obscuring its face, a large logging chain makes up its spine.

None would be considered traditional. Especially those pieces incorporating found objects, a new obsession of Friedrich, who says he likes "the mix of the warmth of the wood and the cold of the metal."

"I love visiting the Sides recycling junk yard," Friedrich says while placing his pieces Wednesday afternoon. "They know me by name."

The sculptures complement Cotton's photography, which uses subjects from landscapes to animals to people, including local characters like "Leslie," a wrinkled old man who Cotton calls "the kind of person you may want to stare at," but also an "incredibly gentle, peaceful soul."

Cotton has never participated in a show in Southeast Missouri, but Friedrich invited the photographer to participate in this exhibition and fill up the large, elongated, black-walled space provided by Gallery 1.2.5.

The pair met two years back, when Friedrich picked Cotton up hitchhiking in Southern Illinois.

Cotton has owned a photography studio in Cobden for 15 years, from which he produces both commercial and artistic work. His emphasis, though, is on art, even when shooting for clients, Cotton said.

Cotton's collection transforms objects and people into something else, like a photo of a rippling body of water that resembles the ripples in sand in the desert. A series of photos looks at the trunks of Aspen trees close up, transforming them into almost-human faces. Many defy description.

Gallery 1.2.5 has presented only a few shows by local artists, but those shows have picked up in frequency in recent months. Gallery owner Mike Rust, nephew of Southeast Missourian Chairman Gary Rust, said he's selective about who shows in his gallery, but quality contemporary art like Friedrich's and Cotton's is exactly what he's looking for.

"I just want it to be a good venue for people who don't get a lot of exposure," Rust said. "I'm not worried about offending people."

The work of Friedrich and Cotton isn't likely to offend, but it is different than the fare at some of Cape Girardeau's more established galleries. Which is exactly what Rust is looking for.

"I'm not interested in showing painted barns and little streams," Rust said.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

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Want to go?

• What: First Friday reception for Robert Friedrich and Keith Cotton
• Where: Gallery 1.2.5, 125 N. Main St.
• When: 5 to 9 p.m. tonight (Jan. 5)
• Info: 335-2699