Continuing through July 8, 2017
A group of four women painters adds up to a rich diversity of visual content. Mieko Hara is from Japan and a world traveler. She combines acrylic, oil, and collage on wood, with a coating of resin. Ten small, exquisite canvases are placed linearly on the wall, where their distinctions and similarities unfold as a group. Shapes are organic, as if we come upon a grove of dream-like plants and configurations never before seen. To these Hara adds dots of color, giving each painting a heightened sense of enigma.
Molly McCracken-Kumar covers each of her canvases with acrylic shapes, meticulously washed, approximately 40 times. Each washing leaves haunting shadows in the background that endow the canvas with space, light, and shadows. Then she paints the topmost layer with configurations that resemble ornate Indian jewelry, flowers, and other ritual items. The results look beautiful, enticing the viewer to visually search among abstract figures for hidden gems in a magical atmosphere.
Natasha Shoro spent much of her childhood to teenage years moving from country to country, continuously learning a new culture, language, and cultural norms that she had to integrate. Her art is about her relationship to the earth, which she has viewed frequently from an airplane. Shoro calls her mixed media collages “Earth Skins,” as she habitually flew over the skin of the planet. Using an assortment of painted, drawn, and sewn abstract and organic forms, she pieces each together to uniquely conceive a “plot of land” together with irregular outer edges resembling the earth's topography and boundaries. Through her art, Shoro synthesizes her extensive flying experience to convey her feeling that “I am part of the earth.”
Maggie Tenneson’s paintings explore the optical and dimensional, various geometric forms constructed linearly through patiently drawn lines and drips. The work appears woven, strand by strand, with multiple strokes that build up shapes on several planes. Invariably, an illusion of space emerges. In some works, lines get wider and wider or closer and closer. And in others, she incises lines, adding richness to the visual pleasure the work already conveys. Besides line, surface and dimension, Tenneson is keenly aware of the color palette. Related colors, along with lines, echo a sense of connection and intersection as all components tightly integrate.
