Tao Water Art Gallery II
352 Commercial Street
Provincetown, Massacuhusetts
July 20 through August 2
Tao Water Art Gallery I
1989 Route 6A
West Barnstable, Massachusetts
August 1 through 31
The Tao Water Gallery in West Barnstable (and its sister space in Provincetown) and its resident owner/painter, guiding spirit Bao Lede, can change your concept of water from a serviceable thirst quencher and cleanser or, when it misbehaves, nagging irritant to an element both integral and inspirational to our well-being.
Envy the painter with not only a spacious and tranquil gallery but also a studio attached, where the battles of the day can begin on familiar ground and, not incidentally, with a philosophy more mature than mine.
One look at the gravitas and lightness of Bao LeDe’s paintings convinced me to revel in the sensuous color and vivid dynamics of his landscapes and figurative renderings, so sure-footed and yet so balanced that their sure-footedness is not static but poised to move along with the next push or pull.
That poise is not hastily assumed but earned, deliberate. I’m looking at “Boxer,” a generously dimensioned 50” by 46” of oil, ink, rice paper and canvas. The rice paper absorbs the slashes of black ink that limn the subject’s crouched stance and flexed arms. His head, balanced over one poised fist and spread legs, is almost completely ink-black, as if his features were his body.
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