Local Palette

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Various Artists

Austin Galleries
ongoing

The plurality of this gallery's name is fitting; this monolith artspace -- 4,000 square feet packed floor-to-ceiling with artwork -- is large enough to house a cluster of small galleries. In fact, this hybridization of gallery/antique store is larger than many city museums (including our own, until AMOA's downtown expansion).

As you might expect with such immense space, there's simply too much artwork to absorb in one visit, though the gallery's classical music and strategically placed couches invite you to lollygag from one painting-strewn room to the next. As you make your way down to the basement gallery, you begin to realize the extent of the collection that gallery owners George and Ann Goodall have amassed -- and (if you're like me) how limited your budget is. Austin Galleries is very exclusive, featuring well-known artists and appealing to high-dollar collectors. So, if you're looking for a painting to cover up the crayola drawing your nephew left on the wall, this is probably not the place. But if you're seriously into collecting or just viewing fine artwork, this could be the ticket.

The artist whose work is most sought-after at AG is Catalonia-born Joaquín Torrents Lladó, a world-renowned painter who died four years ago of a brain aneurysm at age 47. AG is the exclusive U.S. dealer for Lladó's work, which can go for $75,000, and which, for many art aficionados, has become a staple in the study of 20th-century master artwork. His paintings -- often featuring his children or a scene from nature -- emit such delicacy and beauty, it's easy to see why collectors clamor for his work.

Tucked away in the back corner of the basement are two works by another artist who has made his fair share of collectors clamor. There, in their simple, delightful glory, are two original lithographs by Pablo Picasso. Who knows what you'll find on your second visit.

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"artful graphics"

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Marla Camp

Café Dance
through mid-January

Marla Camp began her career as a graphic designer more than 15 years ago, after realizing that a career as a painter didn't promise much stability -- or money. Since then, Camp has meshed her skills as traditional artist and graphic artist into numerous award-winning designs.

"Making a living creating art, even for commercial applications, keeps me evolving and growing as an artist," says Camp, who now has work spanning her entire career on display at Café Dance. "The computer allows me to mix media easily," she says, "and allows me infinite ways to achieve a potent design."

Indeed, Camp's technique uses the formula that "grabs" you: vivid and complementary colors, simple and effective design, bold and lucid images. Using preliminary sketches she develops in her studio and incorporating them into her computer drawing programs, Camp crafts designs boasting a computer-enhanced perfection, but with artistic finesse and expertise. Her realistic images of a heron, snake, and fish intertwined in one circular group is a good example; Camp drew and colored the animals on paper, then brought them into Photoshop to clean up the edges and brighten the colors. The Waterworks logo -- a cheery salamander, dancing through a translucent, dreamy water collage -- looks like a painting, but actually began as slides of actual Barton Creek creatures that she manipulated and meshed into one aquatic melange of critters.

At the root of all these computer-generated designs are the workings of an artist who has accomplished an all-too-rare feat: making a living utilizing her artwork. Perhaps her next show will feature her actual paintings.

-- Cari Marshall