"Spartina: A Myriad of Grasses" and "A Lifetime Reverence for Wood" Showing through Oct. 1 Zenith Gallery 413 7th Street, NW Free admission Grade: A
Deciphering an artist's inspiration can be an arduous if not futile endeavor. So often in contemporary art, form becomes secondary; figures disappear, lines vanish into plains of color and texture and motivation and meaning become shrouded by the very abstractions they foster.
This is not so for the art of sculptor Margery Goldberg and painter Ellen Sinel, both of whose works are currently on display in a dual exhibition at Washington's Zenith Gallery.
There are few veils and disguises to be found in either show, running until Oct. 1. Instead, Goldberg and Sinel proudly trumpet a common inspiration, one that is evident from looking at each one's work. Their collective muse is nature and the vitality and strength it exudes and consequently imparts.
Both artists have dutifully sought to address the oft-questioned necessity of nature-inspired art in an ever more commercialized and industrialized society. For Sinel, choosing subjects from her environment is nothing new. The AU alum, active in the D.C. art scene for over 35 years, has made a career of painting abstract and realist landscapes. This time though, she has narrowed her approach, focusing her work on delicate reproductions of the flora that lies on the edge of water. Her new collection, "Spartina - A Myriad of Grasses," is just that: 21 paintings devoted solely to these hydrophilic plants and the water and sky that surround them.
Taken individually, the paintings have a mundane calmness and uniformity to them. While they are technically masterful, a quick glance at each work might render an onlooker disinterested. Viewed as a group though, the paintings have a much more serious and lasting effect. Even with each piece having practically the same subject, no two works in the collection are completely alike.
The paintings differ in size, shape, palette and technique. Some of these distinctions are immediately visible, like the sprawling canvases of "Spartina" and "Orange Skies" and the diminutive yet sonorous horizons of "Red Sunset" and "Stormy Purple Skies."
Some alterations are more subtle, like the evenly spaced, serenely erect reeds in "Myriad of Grasses VIII: Intervals" or the densely overgrown, windswept foliage of "Myriad of Grasses IV: Untamed" that curl helplessly at the whim of each gust of air.
Sinel also varies her painting style within the group, contrasting smooth and wide impressionistic brush strokes in "Reflection" with distinct, highly detailed Rousseau-esque mini-forests of beige and green in "Myriad of Grasses IX: Echo."
Then there are the colors that consume each unique sky: the rich orange, somber violet, dark blues and violent purple and black. The latter two paint the heavens and splatter angst all over "Night Sky," the exhibition's most emotionally charged piece.
Even with these eye-catching elements, the paintings of "Spartina" could be discarded as colorful yet insipid entries into the overcrowded landscape genre. What ultimately saves this collection from banality and allows it to succeed is Sinel's deliberate micro-management of the grasses. Nearly each stem has its own delicate and varied color scheme and its own movement. These are not repetitive, unimaginative landscapes. These are portraits of individuals, equally struggling and thriving, amidst a simple yet chaotic world.
Goldberg, however, finds her inspiration from her medium of choice: wood. The sculptor and Zenith founder's devotion to trees is monumental; Goldberg has dedicated her entire artistic life to woodwork, and many of the highlights of her 33-year career are on display in "A Lifetime Reverence for Wood." The retrospective culls together pieces from private collections as well as unsold and new works, in an effort to unify her eclectic yet determined output. While much of this work is exquisitely crafted artisan furniture pieces, there's little doubt that her sculptures are her crowning achievements. Many of Goldberg's curvaceous wooden sculptures stand stoically, like the trees that bore and now embody them, while others are fixed in kinetic positions. In either case, they radiate life.
So even with their inspiration and intent being clear, do Goldberg and Sinel do anything to affirm the validity of their eco-centric artistic endeavors in today's urbanized and mechanized existence? For them, the answer is in this show.
