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In the New England Wax exhibition “Transparency,” on view at Wellfleet Preservation Hall from May 21 to June 27, encaustic, wax is employed in many different media combinations to explore diverse concepts of what compromises art today.
An art technique most famous for its role in the Fayum Egyptian funerary portraits of 100-300 AD, encaustic has been thor- oughly modernized. With subjects that range from abstract to realism, birds to beaches and swirly lines to geometric shapes, a look at “Transparency” should convince anyone that encaustic deserves one’s attention for its beauty and creativity that uses light, texture, form and color.
Some of the exhibiting artists work to exploit the inherent luminosity of the medium.
Janet Lesniak’s “Sea Sky,” shows off the depths of the materials to evoke a frothy blue water and complex cloud sky. Her “Sand.Sea.Sky.” also works the medium to great advantage, allowing the viewer to recall memories of beaches and skies. Ruth Sack displays four similar works that also rely on the medium for impact. Two works titled “Random River” differ slightly in size, but both employ the same colorful curving materials buried in whitish wax medium. “Ultra Random” uses denser inlay of brilliant-colored bits of what appears to be glass shards to create a “random” pattern. Perhaps Sack could explore tinting the background with a different pigment to create a more unified look.
“Carpet of Gold,” by Anne Hebebrand, also adheres closely to the modern encaustic tradition. Looking like a 1950s abstract oil painting, the encaustic is worked over again and again in multiple patterns and textures. “Chance Words I Hear,” by Lola Baltzell, also uses abstract patterns and gestures. “Centering on the Heart,” by Edith Beatty pushes the “abstract” to its farthest limit with a work that has no symbolism at all, just textured gray.