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Arkin and DeLooper at PASS Gallery

May 6, 2008

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Sondra Arkin
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Betsy Stewart, Sondra Arkin, Ellen Sinel
PASS Gallery, Richard Siegman's  long-standing DC non-profit space lives in a two-story building accessible  from the alley between R and S Streets a couple of blocks east of Dupont Circle and has a history of showing local artists at an interesting point in the arc of their careers. This time he is showing Willem deLooper, a local institution currently featured in a retrospective at the Katzen Center at American University, along with Sondra Arkin, who has been showing widely in the city for about 5 years. The pairing is inspired.

Disclosure: Sondra is a close friend of mine. But any disinterested observer would have to say that her work in this show holds its own and a whole lot more. Her 7 encaustic paintings, ranging from 48" square down, are luminous, glorious exercises in the conjunction of color, texture and shape. A horizon line has appeared in the largest new work, transforming them into landscapes and adding an additional element of interest. Encaustic can be a dangerous medium for artists (here I speak from experience) because it seduces by its sheer beauty and can submerge one's intent. These pieces confirm that Arkin has clearly mastered the use of the medium for her artistic purposes.

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Willem deLooper
DeLooper's canvases also mix large blocks of color and texture. They are reflective without being too quiet and connect him with the Washington color school artists who were his near-contemporaries without yoking him reflexively to that tradition.

PASS Gallery is open Tuesday and Saturdays from 1 - 5 and this show is worth making the effort.

 
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