MARTYL LANGSDORF’s acrylic paintings and collages, in a show titled “Landscapes of Memory: A Journey Through Places and Spaces,” continue the St. Louis artist’s tradition of creating recognizable scenes — here based on trips to Egypt, New Mexico and Japan — through a spare use of realistic colors, shapes and light. She makes her works convincing yet eliminates excessive and sometimes distracting detail. A few works are so abstract that the scenery is barely identifiable, as in “The Nile at Luxor.” Langsdorf uses collage forcefully in such works as “Ice Cold,” where a bold white free-form shape simulates an icy pond, and she sometimes paints on Mylar rather than on paper to create a softer, hazier effect. At Printworks Gallery, 311 W. Superior St., through April 26.
Though many people associate two schools with German Expressionism — Die Brucke (The Bridge) from Dresden and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) from Munich — gallery owner R. Stanley Johnson says in the catalog to his current show of self-portraits, titled “Selbstbildnis,” that the importance of German Expressionism went beyond those schools, beyond Germany’s borders and beyond the time frame associated with the movement — 1905 to 1930. Kathe Kollwitz’s “Self-portrait at the Table, 1893” is among the earliest works on view, and the details of her attire, her face, the table and lamp suggest that tighter control is being exerted than in some of the other works, although the darkness in which Kollwitz envelops herself gives the whole as much emotion and introspection as any other work on view. Emil Nolde uses lines, colors and compositional details succinctly in his “Head with Pipe, E.N., 1907” lithograph with watercolors to provide a haunting image of himself.He conceals one eye and makes the other barely visible underneath his impressive hat. The show continues through May at R.S. Johnson Fine Art, 645 N. Michigan Ave.
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James Powers’ first solo exhibition of mixed-media works provides an in-depth look at a young, promising Chicago artist. Powers deploys a large variety of media — canvas, oil and acrylic paint, charcoal and fabric — and many geometric components, but he uses them sparingly to create lean and elegant abstractions that read as a mix of lyrical landscapes fused with organic structures. Whether Powers works large, as in “Fear of Hate of Fear,” or small, as in “Exercise in Humility,” he uses a similar vocabulary and technique. He juxtaposes tidy interlocking grids of rich colors against sweeping curves and fanciful shapes, then places them atop seemingly empty backgrounds. But the backgrounds aren’t what they seem at first glance. Sometimes Powers paints the canvases in two subtly different shades, such as white and beige. Sometimes he overlays sections of the canvas with transparent white fabric that softens the colors, markings and forms underneath but adds additional depth to mostly flat forms. “I enjoy the separation of space and the difference in textures. I like all the different components to stand on their own yet work together. These paintings, I think, represent an evolution in my work. The fabric is a new addition, and it was important because it gave me a tiny bit of space that gives an illusion of depth. But I had to experiment to find a sheer enough fabric that showed the underdrawings enough but also pushed them back in space,” the artist explains. The show continues through April 26 at Klein Art Works, 400 N. Morgan St.