Kathleen Weber and Leigh Gustafson

Kathleen Weber's show at F.A.N. Gallery consists of 32 oils, mostly urban scenes. That group includes a few "pure" landscapes like The Tavern at Olneyville, but most of Weber's oils depict people talking, eating, hanging out— sometimes in the foreground, sometimes as background music.

When she chooses to concentrate on the people, Weber's work evokes a vaguely Hopper-esque feel, although Weber paints in a harder, more vigorous manner, and her colors are brighter and more aggressive.

In her most interesting pieces, like Waiters Waiting and Conversations at the Club, Weber captures a sense of life slowed to a standstill. The end result is a show that's not exactly joyous but it has its moments. Morning Light, a study of light washing over a variety of rooftops, for all its simplicity is a lovely piece of work.

For a very different conception of landscape, you can head over to Artists House, where the front gallery currently displays a series of farm scenes by Leigh Gustafson. Everything in these pieces is quiet and subdued. The intent seems to be the creation of a mood.

Gustafson and Weber offer an interesting contrast of style and possibly of intent. One tries to gently lure you in, the other pushes you off. One artist's escape from the world is another artist's interrogation of it.

Artists House also displays 15 still life pieces by Gustafson. These are not so much the classic "arrangement of objects" that the term calls to mind as they are portraits— of shooting marbles, of silver cups, of galoshes, each immaculately rendered, right down to the sheen of light on their surfaces.♦


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