‘Christine Gray: Mimeographic Spectrum’

'Christine Gray: Mimeographic Spectrum'

Okay Mountain, through Aug. 4

The vivid colors shout out from their rectangles on the gallery's white walls. The pinks, reds, and purples alert you to their presence but also diffuse the image into a softer character. The paintings slip back and forth between a rendered dimensionality and actual protrusion. Space shifts from the planes of the painted objects to the atmosphere of the backdrops. Christine Gray's paintings at Okay Mountain are really something to look at.

The immaculate lighting, dramatically dynamic compositions, and solid paint handling are throwbacks to the virtuosity found in old Dutch vanitas still lifes. From the dusty cardboard to the matte fabrics and especially the glistening droplets, the variety of textures corresponds with the historical paintings. But mejuffrouw Grisj is working with more than just painting an object as realistically as possible. She uses her technical proficiency to play with our perceptions on multiple levels.

Painting is as painting does. Sometimes the paint is tightly controlled, and you can easily see an image of pillows in Beaver Dam. Other times the paint is smeared across the panel, countering both the focus and the measurable flatness of a specifically rendered object. Yet within both, the chosen colors reveal an intimate knowledge of color and light.

It's all constructed, but it's still life. With an interest in crafting, Gray paints objects and structures that she herself has constructed into dioramas and models. Traditional materials like yarn, knitting needles, colorful pipe cleaners, and hot glue join the nonconventional cardboard and twigs placed on flat backdrops. With the proper light sources, real depth and space blend into the suggested landscape. What is real and what is fantasy are difficult to delineate.

Eyefuls of sugar help the medicine go down the rabbit hole. The observations of Gray's paint handling and her image sources are fairly obvious. A mystery behind the pleasant coloring made the show even more enjoyable. Titles like Pegasus Blood Rainbow, TisketTasket, and Forest Finds combine with references to truffles, fruit, and jewelry, leaving a sweet trail worth following. The search for a fairy tale or some other form of narrative underpinning is only compounded by the Rainbow Brite clips playing in the other room. Picking at and digging through the images in the gallery leads to digging through www.christinegray.com and unearths … Martha Stewart!

Okay Mountain has adventurous and playful shows, and "Mimeographic Spectrum" is no exception. The work stays true to its medium yet pushes boundaries. Ideas command attention and provide hints as you wander through the images. Who would have thought you could have epic fantasy without a violent throw down at the end?