Continuing through July 9, 2017
Fluid and comprised of graceful lines and lush shapes, Susan Connell’s “Gestures” is awash in color and swirling motion. Referring to her work an antidote to the often mean-spirited nature of today’s world, Connell uses just the barest, most suggestive lines and colors to communicate resonant, easily recognizable shapes and gentle emotions. A thin figure is poised in the palm of a hand, looking up, secure, elevated, Connell’s “Inner Voice.”
In “Meditation,” prayerful white hands are pressed together against a midnight-dark background. A golden orb that could be the sun or a church window hovers above them, a line of red and gold light appearing in the narrow seam between the hands. In “Pour Vous,” manicured, delicate hands offer a large open daisy, as enormous and appealing as a floral planet. If the image of the hands seduces the viewer in this example, it expresses a rush of longing in “Seduction,” which pairs a beckoning, even commanding gesture with a small, supple nude. Veering from soft and rounded to angular and aggressive forms, we enter Connell's exhibition as supplicants, and emerge from it with visual grace.
