ART Around

My favorite work in the show is Round IV / Circle Extended. I feel its long horizontal layout shows how well Murray’s design ideas can be extended and expanded. We are used to his ability to juggle exuberant color and bold graphics-usually in a square or block-like rectangle, which keeps all the color action centered and turning in on itself-in a kind of kaleidoscopic effect. Here the linear drift allows that energy to expand beyond the picture plane. What holds the piece together and keeps our interest and curiosity on the picture itself, is the beautifully inflected and seductive under-painting. That delicious effect can be felt throughout the exhibition and resonates particularly well, I believe, in Round I / Hand and Round II / Man. Okay, okay...Round II / Woman, as well!

With the under-painting, or without, we have to marvel at Murray’s ability to reinvent color and design options-where there is always clarity in his graphic punch, sensitive design logic in his color overlays and a constantly joyful point of view. Having said all that, I suggest to you that his skill and sensitivity to the black and white elements in his painting is the ultimate source of both their compositional drive and energy and catalyst to all that color explosion.

The Rehoboth Art League (12 Dodds Lane, Henlopen Acres,) where I work as Gallery Associate, has opened its 64th Annual Members’ Fine Art Exhibition. Hundreds of terrific works in all styles and media will be on view through September 2. Judge Barbara R. Kornblatt, founder/director of Barbara Kornblatt Fine Art in Baltimore, awarded top honors to Richard Mathews, Eileen Quinn Hemphill and Pam Carr. Mathews’ Sun Sleepers captures three dozing bathing beauties at water’s edge with high tide fast approaching. It is a wonderfully composed and beautifully drawn pastel that enchants with its wit even as it seduces with its skill. Hemphill’s watercolor, The Potter’s Wares, is dense with pictorial content, painted with assurance and convincing in its detail. Pam Carr’s, Cushion Ajar, Nudes in the Pool, skillfully negotiates an exceedingly tricky compositional gambit and wins our rapt attention.

On exhibit in The Homestead Gallery at RAL is Double Take: Sculpture by Jane Asher, Mary Deacon Opasik and Jim Opasik. This is tour de force assemblage and sculpture by all three. Their skill and wit and vision can be dazzling-so much so that you often need a “double take” to fully realize what you are actually seeing or what it actually is made of. Jim Opasik concentrates on recycled kitchen utensils and serving pieces in the recreation of his beings. Jane Asher relies on old mechanical parts and industrial bits to flesh out her characters. Mary Deacon Opasik uses a high concentration of old furniture parts and fixtures in the creation of her works. Intermingled in the show, all three will capture your hearts and strike your fancy. There is much whimsy afoot-some of it lean, but much of it thick-lots of visual puns and rebus galore-and more than a few poignant and touching moments. Something for everyone!

Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 4:00 p.m. Or, be sure to visit the indoor galleries when you find yourselves at this year’s Outdoor Show on August 10 and 11 and August 17 and 18. There will be an absolute feast for your eyes each day, rain or shine, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.