The pulsing, multi-colored concentric circles in Don Cooper’s spiritual Bindu paintings are a world away from Dominican-born Félix Berroa’s folkish-modern paintings of musicians. They join hands with seven equally diverse artists in “Pulse” at the Abernathy Arts Center, united by themes of sound, music, rhythm and movement.
Lisa Tuttle, Fulton county Public Art education and Outreach Coordinator, drew from the county’s Public Artist Registry in curating the exhibition for the Public Art Program, and worked with the center’s director Lauren Bernazza to organize the show.
Music is a dominant theme. The accordionist is a prominent character in the film “Wishes,” a romantic tango tale by Robin Bernat and Blake Williams. Lori-Gene’s energetic drawings of musicians, in which the staccato lines seem themselves a form of musical notation, focus on the act of playing, while Sam Guilford evokes the ambience of jazz clubs, urban grit in his moody watercolors of musicians.
Ray Pierotti finds visual equivalents of sound in his abstractions. Angus Galloway makes art with sound (check out the head phones). If architecture is frozen music, Danielle Roney lets it melt a little in woozy photos of taffy-like skyscrapers.
Through April 29. 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; until 5 p.m. Fridays; until 12:30 p.m. Saturdays. 254 Johnson Ferry Road, Sandy Springs. 404-303-6172. http://fultonarts.org
Stolle's work playful
Kirsten Stolle’s delightful drawings, paintings and collages are inspired by walks in the woods, botanical and anatomical illustrations and a playful imagination.
Those sources come together in work like “Vantage Point,” one of the paintings in her exhibition at Alan Avery Art Company, in which a tiny tree grows atop a conical mound festooned with a necklace of seed pods. Stolle started out as a printmaker, a background apparent in the layered build-up of the painting’s images, both painted and collaged, and the texture achieved by incisions into the encaustic surface. Through these effects, the spare image becomes quite sensuous.
The artist, who now makes her home in Asheville, N.C., is equally adept at combining gouache, ink, graphite and collage in paper pieces, which benefit from a rich patterning and cheery colors. The group here has a distinctly girlie aura: A delicate line describes the abstract shapes, which suggest purses, corsets and such.
The work takes a surreal turn in her “Exquisite Corpse” series, but all roads here lead to visual pleasure.
Through May 31. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays. 315 E. Paces Ferry Road. 404-237-0370. www.alanaverycompany.com
Catherine Fox is chief visual arts critic of ArtsCriticATL.com
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