Approaching abstraction at Kehler Liddell

Kehler Liddell Gallery
873 Whalley Ave., New Haven, (203) 389-9555
Affinities: Joseph Adolphe & Amy Browning
Through Nov. 1, 2009
Artists' Reception: Sun., Oct. 11, 3—6 p.m.

Affinities pairs off the figurative oil paintings and charcoal drawings of Joseph Adolphe with the abstract landscapes rendered in acrylic paint by Amy Browning.

Adolphe excels at capturing the contours of the human face and figure. Here his subject are mostly his young daughters. While all these works are crafted with concern for pictorial detail, what stands out is the dynamic energy of the brush strokes. From a bit of distance, what registers are the facial features. But move in close and the image becomes a seething mass of broad stroke squiggles and smears of color. The volcanic emotional and physical turbulence of childhood registers as a sojourn into painterly abstraction. With the beach picture "Isabel Running," Adolphe eschews pictorial depiction to capture pure summer motion. Running on a beach's wet water edge, the young girl's flailing limbs are all gesture and camera jitter.

Amy Browning also dines out on the application of paint to surface. With "Heavy Weather," the center of the painting bursts with a profusion of plastic maroon, blue, purple, red, green and orange. These bold colors are surrounded by a more translucent accumulation of glacial tones, water, dripping down the canvas. While I enjoyed the way Browning used the acrylic paints and color, I thought the compositions sometimes lacked coherence.

There will be an artists' reception for this show this Sunday from 3—6 p.m.