Artists Look Through The Glass

Eddie Hall’s artwork at first glance comes across as a high-gloss study of bold geometric shapes, akin to the forms produced by fiber artists or, in some cases, older video games. But the reflective surfaces also give something away: look again and you see that the glass isn’t in front of the canvas; it is the canvas, and part of it is transparent, revealing the wall behind it. Even bolder, sometimes the surface is a mirror. Stand in front of it, and you become part of the image.

Eddie Hall’s show ​“Overtones” was ​“created over the last three years while working with reclaimed windows as an experimentation of glass painting techniques. Hall’s work combines the rigid uniformity of hard-edge painting with themes of architectural abstraction and design. The result exhibits bold colors that delve into the interplay between matte painted surfaces and glass,” as an accompanying note states. ​“Overtones” and Sheldon Krevit’s ​“Bold as Love” are running concurrently at Kehler Liddell Gallery in Westville through Nov. 10.

“If you start looking, you would be surprised how many windows you find discarded by the side of the road. I keep finding myself coming back again and again to the visuals I can achieve with acrylic paints on old windows,” Hall writes. ​“Using this medium, I find that I can readily present bold colors and geometric patterns. I find true enjoyment in the process and challenge of working the unique character of each window into the piece itself. These works have allowed me to take something discarded and hopefully transform them into items of beauty.”

There is also a way that Hall’s choice of canvas affects the form. The sharp lines and tight angles echo the physical properties of the glass itself. That the pieces work so effectively feels less like a happy circumstance, and more like a strategy, as you stroll through the show. Hall’s pieces aren’t just paintings on glass; they are paintings of glass.

On the opposite wall, ​“Bold as Love” shows Sheldon Krevit as an artist of impressive range. ​“Evident throughout Krevit’s work is a love of painting and an ongoing involvement with the nature of perception. He delights in essence, in the continuum of the microscopic to the cosmic,” an accompanying note states.

Krevit’s show also clarifies an important aspect of his artistic practice, which is that he moves seamlessly between completely abstract paintings and well-crafted, detailed figurative drawing. The painting Bold as Love is essentially a field of two colors side by side, fields that reveal themselves to be quite a bit more complex, though no less abstract, upon closer inspection. Nearby is the pencil drawing Homage to 1920s Beauty, a depiction of a posing nude, executed with great precision and eye for detail. 

Several decades ago it might have been taken for granted that an abstract artist was doing so entirely by choice, having learned already how to create highly skilled figurative paintings (think Picasso). By the 1980s this might have no longer been the case, as artists might arrive in art school with a set of ideas they wanted to explore, and a commitment to abstraction that would have left figurative art out.

Krevit shows that he belongs in the group of artists who can do both abstract and figurative art at a high level. Also on display in many of the pieces is a certain impish humor. Man at Checkout, for example, is a simple sketch with a ballpoint pen that packs a punch, conveying menace, surprise, and complicated humor in four figures. The figurative drawings thus open a window to the abstract pieces. On display in those pieces is Krevit’s obvious skill, his knowledge of color and ability to deploy it. But perhaps the abstracts aren’t intended to be approached with a somber glare, but rather with an eye toward engagement in a way more akin to a puzzle, a mental amusement park ride, an engrossing mystery. Krevit is serious in his ability to make art, but is, on a certain level, encouraging the viewer to have fun.

“Overtones” and ​“Bold as Love” run at Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., through Nov. 10. Visit the gallery’s website for hours and more information.