Four Artists Find The Depth In The Field

Robert Bienstock’s Concentricity 3 is an abstract piece, but the lines are evocative of several natural forms at once. They could be the shapes on a topographical map, depicting hundreds of square miles of land. They could also be organic or inorganic forms growing under the light of a microscope. Bienstock may make conceptual art, but the patterns point toward the real.

The art is part of ​“Realignment,” a dual show from Bienstock and fellow artist Kate Henderson, running now at Kehler Liddell Gallery in Westville through June 25. Bienstock’s art, he explains in an accompanying statement, ​“explores patterns of space-filling lines. I have been drawn recently to longer and thinner panels. These shapes have been conducive to my visual journal practice, as well as for focusing the ideas in my conceptual pieces.” 

Bienstock sees the connection between the abstract shapes he is drawn to and more representational art, as well as natural forms. ​“I am inspired by Chinese and Japanese landscape paintings, which guide the viewer’s eye through evolving terrains united by common modes of expression.” He’s also inspired by ​“glorious mushrooms and mosses that both highlight and obscure the gnarly downed tree trunks on which they grow.”

Kate Henderson has likewise found in her art a journey, at least partially, into nature. ​“The process of creating work for ​‘Realignment’ has been truly transformative,” she writes in an accompanying statement. ​“That began as a studio exercise in drawing more from life this year, a departure from my usual nature-based abstractions, has suddenly brought me full circle back into a style and rethinking the gesture of forms.” For Henderson, the art works on multiple layers. ​“There are the physical layers and the metaphorical layers combining abstract formalism, personal narratives, and emotional response.”

Some of Henderson’s piece, like Emergence Triptych, read as though they are drawn from life. Her painting of West Rock Ridge is recognizable as such, captured in winter or early spring, before the foliage obscured the view of the larger landscape. Other pieces, like Premise #9, head into more obviously abstract territory. In a broader sense, both Bienstock’s and Henderson’s works call attention to the idea that the line between abstract and representational art is more fluid than it first appears.

Kehler Liddell’s North Gallery, meanwhile, has a smaller show in which it introduces two of the gallery’s new members: Eddie Hall and Sheldon Krevit. The self-taught Hall makes his pieces from recycled windows, drawing ​“inspiration from architectural and design themes,” he writes in an accompanying statement. ​“I keep finding myself coming back again and again to the visuals I can achieve with acrylic paints on the reverse side” of the glass. Those effects include a depth of field that is difficult to capture in a photograph of the piece. The shifting shadow the half-transparent piece casts on the wall behind it is as much a part of the piece as the physical object.

Meanwhile, Krevit’s abstract paintings have an astonishing depth of field that, again, photographs of the pieces don’t do justice to. In person, the surfaces of his canvases appear first to shimmer and then almost break open, revealing somewhat vertiginous depths behind them. This effect is most dramatic in the very aptly titled Open Window/Speed of Light, in which Krevit very near captures the sense of vast distances one gets from the night sky on a clear night in rural places with very little light pollution. The lights swim against the purple and around one another, and just for a moment, you’re not in an art gallery; you’re somewhere else, far away, with no particular reason to want to leave.

“Realignment” and the new members spotlight run at Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., through June 25. Visit the gallery’s website for hours and more information.