Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Exhibit Review: Down to Earth

By Laura Seewoester

Down to Earth is an exhibit at Cerulean Gallery featuring works by four artists that all represent their interpretation of landscapes. Proceeds from the artwork sold in this exhibition will be donated to the Autism Treatment Center, an organization dedicated to assisting individuals with autism and related disorders and their families.

Virgina Mirum's collages are whimsical, soft and dreamy. She specifically paints from memory (as opposed to plein air or from a photograph) which gives her work a lot of feeling. Some pieces invoke feelings of nostalgia, while others portray the quick passings of a long drive. Some of her landscapes are more straightforward, offering beautiful scenes and horizons, while others take a more abstract approach as Mirum brings you through the webbing of her memories.

Michael T. Longhofer paints realistic urban landscapes. While he paints from photographs, everything is done free hand. Many of the landscapes focus on the mother of all urban landscapes, New York City, but there are also some from Dallas and Santa Fe thrown in. His technique is impeccably detailed to the point where they actually look like photographs until you get up close. This display represents the many faces of a large city, some with clear and bright buildings, some with blurry lights or cabs whizzing around, and one, "Purple Main", with dark, looming buildings. The different perspectives Longhofer has portrayed in his landscapes almost showing the audience the different characteristics and moods of everything we all know and love, our cities.

John Gary Brown's work is the ultimate abstract landscape. Each piece has a distinct horizon and a fiery point of focus. His works consist of layers upon layers of color. Due to the abstract nature of his pieces, it's hard to determine if Brown is painting a simple sunset or representing the deep inner workings of the human mind.

Robin Hazard-Bishop is a plein air artist that uses pastels on suede. Her works are soft and bright. She uses just a few colors making the pieces simple and playful. She also incorporates the color of the suede into each piece, which give a cohesiveness to the colors and the suede. Hazard's landscapes are striking and beautiful. The exhibit as a whole provides four very different perspectives of landscapes and challenges the viewer to change their perspective of and how they look at the landscape.

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