Pell Lucy: In Praise of Form
Piano Craft Gallery • Boston, MA • pianocraftgallery.com • April 1–24, 2022
In Praise of Form fills the Piano Craft Gallery with a resonant luminescence. Pell Lucy is an international collective initiated by Deborah Barlow in 2019 and developed throughout the pandemic. It has held seven virtual exhibits. This is the first in-person presentation of an impressive array of highly developed artists.
Barlow explains that the name is a variation of the word, “pellucid” which implies clarity, seeing through to something else. “Pell” refers to a manuscript on parchment—an artifact. “Lucy” derives from Lucien, which infers light. In contrast to post-modernism’s prioritization of issues and ideas, Pell Lucy’s artists concentrate on form rooted in an ecological ethos that emphasizes the interrelatedness of all things.
Silver Web, by Joanne Lefrak, is inspired by spiderwebs in ancient Nepalese monasteries, and by topography. Using silver on glass, she explores the mystical power of patterns and visual forms drawn from nature. Karen Fitzgerald’s Fog Light (Remembering Gay), an unusual combination of Venetian plaster, mica, Yupo paper, and gold leaf, looks like two, almost transparent, floating icebergs in a band of mist. Fitzgerald’s search to bring matter and spirit together has resulted in a mysterious and evocative piece.
Debra Weisberg’s Conundrum utilizes black and white paper tape to create a portrait of the artist’s journey in search of a final form. Weisberg sees her constant re-adjustments, additions, and subtractions as parallel to nature’s continuous re-shaping of landscape. Sailing Away, Paula Overbay’s tour de force painting composed entirely of dots, carries the viewer into infinite space. Likewise, Barlow’s Kasetti 2, and Tina Feingold’s Rapture, are open-ended meditations on the cosmos.
Emissary, an intentionally enigmatic piece by Diane McGregor, uses fragments of text layered with wax and oil paint. The poetic and evocative aspect of these snippets creates a fascinating alchemy. It’s a symbol of the exhibition that collectively asks questions about ourselves, our connections to each other, and to nature. There are no “answers” proffered, only “traces,” as it were, of the artists’ courageous journeys into the unknown and back.
The exhibit is accompanied by a catalogue designed by Denise D. Manseau with an essay by Taney Roniger, and eloquent statements by each artist.
—B. Amore