(Enlarge) Joan Brady’s “Eggplant” captures the feel of an Old Master oil painting with new techniques. She is one of four regional artists with work in “Still Life,” running through Aug. 9 at Howard Community College.

In a fast-paced world, a still-life painting is an invitation to slow down and look at something closely. The four-artist "Still Life" exhibit at Howard Community College provides an opportunity for such contemplation.

When working within this painterly tradition, artists generally realize that simpler is better. Jo Brown's "Pear with One Leaf" features that single pear resting on a shelf. The plain white background ensures that your eyes remain fixed on the pear. Brown has similar paintings that amount to modest portraits of figs, peaches, lemons and other fruit.

A similar series presents glass vessels on nondescript shelves. Although Brown has variations with the color of the glass and its reflective properties, these paintings remain just as quiet in their effect.

Artists have made such paintings for hundreds of years, but that's not to say that today's still-life painters simply rest within that venerable style.

On first glance, Joan Brady's still-life paintings seem like completely conventional examples of the genre. Indeed, she uses the so-called Maroger method of mixing and applying her paint. It essentially gives an Old Master look to newly made paintings.

A closer look reveals that Brady occasionally tweaks traditional subject matter. In "Carrots," some impressively healthy specimens dangle before your eyes. They've been nailed to a wall as if to put them on display. The wall is so badly abraded, however, that you can't help wondering what combination of age and neglect made it look like it's peeling before your eyes. In effect, fresh produce hangs against a rotting surface.

You'll find other little surprises in other paintings by Brady. In "Shells," a small white seashell sits next to a small bullet shell. They're very different kinds of shells, of course, and their pairing prompts you to think about their very different appearance and purpose.

Calling your attention to the shelftop display mode, if you will, is Mary J. Arthur's "Studio Shelf." It depicts tubes of paint, glass vessels, intimately scaled paintings and other objects a still-life painter would have on her studio shelf.

Arthur ventures further into the room with other paintings that focus on chairs, stools and tables. And there is a series of tiny paintings depicting eggs, because, well, it's a chance to show there's more than one way to break the shell.

The above-mentioned artists all work with standard mediums, but the fourth artist, Victoria Restrepo, makes still-life compositions that mix painting, photography and digital art.

In Restrepo's "Still Life with a Pocket Watch" and related works, she showcases objects in the foreground and has curtains and window frames to literally frame them. Through the frame can be seen lush landscapes that complete the digitally altered picture. Her art-making technology is new, but the basic compositional format has been around a long time.

"Still Life" runs through Aug. 9 at Howard Community College in Columbia. Call 410-772-4800 or go to www.howardcc.edu.

user comments (0)