Steven E. Halvorsen’s charming oil-on-linen painted landscapes with figures have moved slightly in a new direction in his show at the Byron Roche Gallery.
Halvorsen doesn’t incorporate historical references to suggest the passage of time, and his subjects live clearly in the present. But they also are aware of and respect the past, and in several paintings, titled “Re-enactor,” they are actually enacting former battle scenes and wearing historical garb.
“I’ve always tried to make the past come alive,” Halvorsen says. “On one hand, I’ve found it strange that people today would pretend they’re soldiers from another era, yet another part of me is pleased that they enjoy the sanitized fantasy rather than the reality of the war.”
Other paintings, like “Park Maintenance,” reflect a different sensibility. These are simple, magical compositions that show Halvorsen’s ability to create a serene picture-postcard landscape yet inject an element of the unknown.
Overall, his landscapes have grown richer in the contrasts between light and dark areas, be they sky and lake or fields of grass, and his figures seem to wait more for action to occur. A figure in “Dreamer” lies down, no ripples disturb the lake beyond him, but the viewer is left to wonder where the dock leads.
“I don’t always understand the meaning of what I paint, but I find the imagery provocative and allow the viewer to interpret,” Halvorsen says.
The only disappointments in the show are when Halvorsen changes his palette to a jarring purple, turquoise and brown and applies paint in thick dabs.
The show continues at 750 N. Franklin St. through Saturday.
Alan Feltus has set himself an interesting challenge. His oil paintings seem to be a cross between contemporary and Renaissance portraiture because of his large figures’ poses and features (including swanlike necks), their garb, the carefully thought-out compositions, which include landscapes, paintings and everyday objects, and the softly colored palette of beiges, greens, ochres and umbers.
Feltus, an American artist residing in Italy who is helping to restore the Basilica of San Francesco destroyed during the Assisi earthquake, slips a letter into each of his works. A letter writer himself, Feltus sent epistles to gallery owner Ann Nathan and some have been included in excerpts as part of the show. In his letters to Nathan, Feltus tells of his love for the basilica and of his terror when the earthquake occurred. But he gives the viewer little clue to the contents of the letters in his paintings.
The self-portrait titled “Autumn Self Portrait Assisi Earthquake” portrays Feltus in a sweatshirt, delicately holding an envelope scribbled with words. Feltus in the work stares straight ahead, not even glancing down at the envelope. In “La Belle Orlandaise,” the artist shows a beautiful woman with long, curly hair, long neck and nose, and with arms and fingers oddly posed — one set of long fingers lightly touch her neck, the other rests on a table to hold a letter that she peruses. In the backdrop a painting reveals a man in a distance looking beyond while another small painting or photograph shows a woman looking at herself in a mirror. Everybody is looking at something. The show continues at 218 W. Superior St. through August.
Carl Hammer’s gallery is well known for his outsider art exhibits, but he has decided to let one summer exhibit reflect his passion for sailing. The work of Chapman Kelley reflects a well-trained eye. In Kelly’s watercolors, boats vigorously move through choppy blue waters and whitecaps. Sails billow, and the weather represents an ever-changing background, from sunny to hazy, cloudy and at dusk.
Some of these works were painted in Chicago; others in a place that resembles Maine with its rocky shoreline. All are done in such realistic detail that from several feet back the paintings resemble colored photographs. Up close, however, they reveal a Homeresque quality. The show, titled “Essential Elements: Wind, Water and Sail,” is also a salute to the 100th anniversary of the Chicago to Mackinac Regatta. The show continues at 200 W. Superior through Aug. 8.
Leslie Wilkes’ new oil paintings on view at Lyons-Weir gallery reveal a much more Disneylike or cartoon quality. She favors a palette of cotton-candy orange, yellow, turquoise and green colors, and blows up her females to a daunting size, along with the flowers and butterflies that envelop the women.
The “Sweet Things” pictured — that is the title of the show — reveal an edge of sexuality in the pinup poses they strike in old-fashioned bathing suits. The woman in “Petit Four” sits amid a garden, knees pulled up closely and arms grasping them. Her head is turned to look coyly at the viewer. The overall effect is too cutesy and the colors almost too blinding. The show continues at 300 W. Superior through Aug. 22.
Catch the spare, pristine gouaches, screenprints and oils on paper of Richard Allen at Printworks Gallery. His designs will remind viewers of Mondrian’s crisp geometrics, though Allen’s work has a more open, welcoming quality. The show continues at 311 W. Superior through Aug. 22.
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