by Garrison Frost

Having not been inside the Manhattan Beach Creative Arts Center for some time, I was this week again struck by the modest public gallery's versatility. This is a space that has hosted some mighty big shows – meaning, exhibits featuring big sculptures and large paintings – without feeling cramped. And then the space can also hold a small show such as the current "Watermedia Traditional/Experimental" without seeming empty at all. It's a credit to the curators that the space always seems not only just the right size, but also just the right container, for the art inside.

While it is what one would consider a small show, the goal of "Watermedia Traditional/Experimental" is somewhat grand: to present an overview of the ever diverse possibilities of water-based painting. To do this in this small space, and employ the work of only five artists, is somewhat bold. However, the show achieves its goal nicely. Certainly, it doesn't show everything that exists in the world of water-based paint media, but the work on the walls does give us an idea of what's might be out there. In short, there's enough in the show to inform us that our preconceived notions of watercolor paints might be outdated, and that there is a lot out there to see.

Lawrence Yun sets the bar high with his offerings, paintings depicting various flowers and trees in fantastic clarity and detail. His paintings depart from the norm in that each contains some hint of human interaction. In "Palm and Poppies," the artist distinguishes his work from similarly detailed biological studies by including wood and chords that a gardener might use to support and direct the growth of the plants. In other paintings, the natural images are merely juxtaposed with unnatural graphic patterns.

Margaret Griffith goes even further, taking watermedia completely away from natural subject matter altogether, but still retaining the organic quality of the medium. Griffith depicts organic structural grids that curve and bend like naturally occurring honeycomb or cell membranes. While the subject matter leans toward the abstract, her choice of color and detail make her images seem more warm, organic. Our favorites here were "Untitled #2," "Untitled #5" and "Untitled #6."

Gloria D. Lee doesn't use the water media to depict, rather she uses the paint to color and illustrate her mixed media collages. In more than a few of these, she uses the color to dramatize the passing of ancient cultures, building paint around photographs of ruins and piles of bones, as well as old Chinese printed material.

Patricia Woolley's watercolors return the show to more traditional territory, although her use of bold color in otherwise mundane images of small villages show us how watercolor can go far beyond the faded opacity we might be used to. Hisako Asano's paintings return us to traditional watercolor. His Eastern influences are evident, particularly in "Misty Valley" which evokes the finely layered landscapes that have been produced in Japan for centuries.

"Watermedia Traditional/Experimental" runs through Sept. 16 at the Manhattan Beach Creative Arts Center.

(Aug. 8, 2004)

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