Reflections & Shadows Eases Our Winter Of Discontent
Despite my reluctance to cater to gallery themes I actually found myself gravitating to new works that would fit this latest show at Capital Arts, ‘Reflections And Shadows’. It helped that I knew about it in plenty of time, and the idea was intriguing enough to jar my imagination. A number of new works resulted over the last few months, with varying degrees of success.
‘Reflections Of Night’, driven by the bright lights of the city, and ‘Morning Beside The Pond’, reflecting the brilliant sunlight of a new day, are the best of these efforts. Reflections can be difficult to create, and these two works use diametrically opposed sources to produce the effect. They are, to be cliché about it, night and day.
These next two came last fall before the theme of this show was known but just happen to fit as both are driven by shadows. The ‘Illusion Of Darkness’ combines ambient moonlight blended with digital art to create what I think is a compelling residential street scene. The other, ‘Surviving In A Dark Wood’, I confess MIGHT be stretching it as, the original photographic capture coming in a forest, it’s nothing but shadow. But here’s the deal – offsetting these shadows is not simply a streak of light, but a streak of color! The brilliant red of the flower standing out from the gloom surrounding it. Flagrant survival against a backdrop of a dying culture. Rather fits our present predicament, don’t you think?
Capital Arts is situated next to Washington Park, a fine place for a walk as winter melts away, the sun emerges and the world warms. A little jog past the ice rink, and there you are surrounded by art and all the better for it. See you there!
- CH