Originally a graffiti and street artist who has also painted backdrops and murals for television shows, movie studios and department stores, DZINE now paints large vibrant oil and enamel and acrylic and enamel paintings that ooze a mix of colorful outlined swirls, frenetic skinny lines and repeated drips. His paintings now are on view for the first time in an exhibit, along with several older works, including a black-and-white ink and collage creation with a cartoonish feeling and swirling watercolors reminiscent of Frank Stella images. Though energetic and colorful, these works are more decorative than substantial, which may reflect the artist’s youth (Dzine is 26).At Lydon Fine Art, 301 W. Superior St., through April 23.
“Natural Selections” is the title of a wonderful small show at the Gwenda Jay Gallery that demonstrates how artists continue to be inspired by the genre but in different ways. Photographer Sean Wilkinson blows up photographs of the interiors of large greenhouses, making viewers feel that they are inside the plant-filled settings, though almost as unwelcome visitors because of the crowded greenery and flowers. Painter Susan Kraut depicts nature in a more romanticized way with a soft lyrical palette and minimal details. She cleverly places the viewer within a building with just a few furnishings — a table, a mug, a book or manila envelope — and a few horizontal and vertical lines to suggest walls. The result is that the eye shoots immediately toward the wooded outdoors and vast openness. Mark Flickinger takes still another route, painting oils of vast landscapes in a classic tradition, with land and sky stretching for miles and the viewer feeling that he is witnessing the scene as a distant voyeur. At Gwenda Jay Gallery, 704 N. Wells St., until April 22.