Two by Land Gallery Critique

This gallery by Nicole Donnelly and Katherine Sandoz features a variety of interesting pieces all in dynamic narrative discussion with each other. This discussion fixates around the imaginative element of recreated/varyingly interpreted landscapes. A creative spin off the typically rigid confines of traditional sculpture paintings Donnelly and Sandoz seem to venture into a new realm of aesthetic representation concerning landscape images.

The work of Sandoz reflects the subject interpreted (Coastal Georgia) through the typical horizontal elements of traditional landscapes but the simplicity creates conversation throughout the work despite the minimal size of the paintings. Interpretation in this way involves the viewer. The palate choice as well creates much room for interpretation. Whereas with typical coastal images there is predominant natural colors, with these pieces there is a mixed degree of colors juxtaposing each other and non-merging as is expected in typical landscape paintings. The cut out rigidity of these images really highlights the overarching beauty of the specific areas the paintings are based off of. Similarly, Donnelly explores many of the same visual aspects in her own pieces, together, creating a very unified gallery experience with many continuous visual themes throughout.

Donnelly on the other hand has a style and interpretive landscaping technique that also reflects her own surroundings of differing places within Philadelphia mainly. The very pop art colors used again are very atypical of traditional representation. Combined with minimalistic silhouette approach, especially featured on such pieces as the battleship sitting in the bay, this very basic rudimentary style compliments pieces from Sandoz. The representational qualities expressed through these pieces of work are very contradictory to the natural detail typically seen in such paintings. Through these pieces a fundamental transcendence can be noted in patterns of complexity regression and imaginative expression.

The core imaginative representational qualities demonstrated by the pieces of both artists complement each other through similar exploits in unnatural colors, basic representational components of the landscape, and additional imaginative elements (particularly obvious and aesthetically crucial drip marks and brush strokes.) In an ultimate opinion of this gallery, I found it highly effective in the delivery of an alternative to traditional landscapes and very aesthetically pleasing the fluid connections between two very different, yet in some ways similar, artists.