Chicago artist Valerie Beller proves in her exhibition of paintings at the Jean Albano Gallery that there is always room for another solid variation on abstract expressionism. Layers of color and texture cover her canvases completely, but these layers vary in hue and intensity, as do the sizes of the canvases themselves. Atop the layered colors, Beller places stronger, darker geometric shapes, which she applies with much thicker dabs of paint so that the shapes sometimes appear stuck onto the surfaces.
Beller rhythmically repeats some of her colors, patterns and textures, yet the images she fashions are not true duplications of one another. Instead, there is a comforting similarity of shapes, tones and textures that give each work its look of successful organization and composition.
Furthermore, she adds a strong gravitational pull by arranging many of the shapes in vertical groupings so that the eye keeps shifting down and moving up again. And each of the works exhibited is quite different in its final solution from the others displayed — “Tincture,” for example, reveals a much less dense surface and lighter palette than “Evidence.” Beller has not simply developed a clever formula but knows how to make a good painterly painting. The exhibit continues through April 25 at the Jean Albano Gallery, 215 W. Superior St.
Lisa Krivacka’s multidimensional works defy labeling. All of them reflect the young artist’s adeptness at painting and her ability to poke fun at everyday cultural artifacts, transforming what could be viewed as tacky into something imaginative and beautiful.
Born in Ft. Campbell, Ky. and educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Krivacka for years has collected travel postcards from the 1940s through the ’60s. She has used them as inspiration in souvenir wooden plates that she makes, paints and hangs on walls. Made in different kitschy shapes, the plates pay homage to less traditional travel destinations such as a state highway building in Columbia, S.C., or the Sunset Villas and Tranquility Apartments in Pompano Beach, Fla. Her detailed paintings of the landscapes and people who reside there or visit, her humorous writings that she incorporates such as “Enjoy Life, Eat Out More Often,” her clever plate shapes and the heavy varnishing she applies to her neon-bright palette all elevate these spots to permanently important destinations.
Krivacka also makes boxes with wonderful interior compartments and removable parts that reveal the same sense of whimsy and which investigate the psychology behind giving and receiving gifts. Two other stars of her exhibition are a giant wall map that conveys the same sort of irreverent subjectivity about what’s an important or unimportant locale, and an oil on wood painting of a fertilizer factory. The map consists of pieces put together like a giant jigsaw puzzle whose backs are velcroed so they can be stuck to the wall. The show continues at the Ann Nathan Gallery, 218 W. Superior St., until April 29.
The paintings of Dana Bell on view at the Eastwick Art Gallery reflect a strong illustrative quality somewhat reminiscent of the work of Alex Katz. But in this young painters’ hands, there is little depth of painting quality and no emotions that resonate from the female figures. Figures barely connect and have the effect of flat illustrations. The one exception is the young woman who sits on an enormous sofa with an empty window in the background and striped horizon lines in the foreground. The show continues at Eastwick, 245 W. North Ave., until April 20.