Seven, a group show consisting of current artists from the gallery [Matilde Alessandra, Bert Burr, Brian Fekete, Sally Gil, Melora Griffis, Jimmie James, and Dorothy Simpson Krause], consists of mixed media work that's both dynamic and well crafted, offering a compelling diversity of work chosen by gallery director Sophie Bréchu-West.
Sally Gil, based in Brooklyn, NY, uses print media, blending collage and painting. Tall Mumm, acrylic and print media on paper, is a cosmic display of white nebulaic pinwheels, flowers, and fruit; star dusted and rocketing through space. Grounding the piece is a voluptuous stack of blueberries.
In Untitled #57, ink and gouache on Bristol board, Matilde Alessandra mesmerizes with delicate, meticulous cross-hatching lines hovering in and around an indigo blue rectangle. Born in Venice, Alessandra also creates minimalist light sculptures, and site-specific installations. Melora Griffis' winter storm incorporates acrylic painting with fabric sewn into muslin. White, gray, and mauve, with accents of red splotches, a swirling city storm is created, beautiful and threatening, with a car teetering precariously in the snow.
Contrasting completely is Brian Fekete's The Art of Discretion, a gouache and ink painting on paper. The pattern of dotted brushstrokes, sweeps of bright yellow, and three heads from 18th century illustrations of hairstyles offer a pyschological tableau of the mores between men and women, then and today. Dorothy Simpson Krause' Spot for Contemplation - UV cured flatbed print on polycarbonate over silver leaf on wood panel - is a manipulated photograph showing a white bench haloed by delicated tree branches, all covered in snow. A tender, luminous glow in the serenity of winter silence.
Berta Burr's oil on canvas feels like breath, openness, expanse. Diaphanous clouds waft in a cornflower blue sky, offering peace in a limitless sky. The deceptively simple painting reveals a skilled and sensitive painter. big story, acrylic an graphite on watercolor paper by Jimmie James, is whimsical, textual, and filled with possibility. A sketched woman, an abstracted house, the words "baby" and "what is meant to be will be" and "snakes" offer a story up for interpretation. This painting feels light and humorous with its soft palette of gray, lavendar, and pale yellow, yet there is an edge of menace. Is the woman running away? And from what?
Seven is an evocative exhibit -- multiversed, skilled, and thrilling.
