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Marlene Rye's paintings at Gross McCleaf

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1 minute read
451 ryeovertheedge
Not your standard woodsy meditations

ANDREW MANGRAVITE

Marlene Rye paints landscapes in which washes of color suggest rather define the scene. There are plenty of reds, yellows and oranges, making this a rather “hot” exhibition. It engages rather than lulls. All the pieces depict woodland scenes, but they’re far from your standard woodsy meditations. These pieces are more closely akin to the work of the early Fauves.

Trees are frequently rendered as thin whip-like curves, giving the pieces a decidedly decorative look. I suspect that they’d work just as well as tapestries. The exhibition features mostly oil paintings; the few pastel drawings seem less effective to me, perhaps because the pastel medium gives the pieces a heavy, “smudged” look.

I especially liked the panel-type painting entitled Over the Edge. The tall, narrow format is perfect for the image of a stream meandering through a swath of woodland. It is perhaps the most purely decorative piece in the group, and yet it seems to me the most solidly constructed.


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