Sailors, swimmers, rowers, divers, fishers, snorkelers and surfers stare into the watery depths, dreaming, struggling, tossing and rolling on the surf. Who has not spent a summer day floating on the blue and green, diving down to see the sandy bottom, the crabs, and the watergrass? Michael Eder is a painter of water in all its strange shapes. Look down into water’s mystical depths. See the sunshine through the water. Look deeper, deeper down, past the reflections of sky and sand, shoreline rocks; down past the seaweed, the crabs, the wading birds, the shells and the driftwood bits. Michael Eder, painter of water, takes us down into the deep sea. Sometimes the sea thickens with ice flows. Sometimes it churns with stormy gales and foam and flotsam. Sometimes sea creatures rise to the surface, flickering with gold flecks in the sunlight. Sometimes we dive so deep the water is … [Read more...] about A PAINTER OF WATER: EDER’S LARGE ABSTRACT CANVASES HEAD TO HALLSPACE

Dianna Vosburg’s studio is gently lit by diffused sunlight filtering down from old mill-building style windows. The eye wanders from a shelf of books to racks of canvas yet-to-be painted; on the far wall is a mysterious source of light — a row of oil paintings that seem to glow from within. Whether it be points of light peeking through writhing fabric or a vibrant cosmic glow — Vosburg’s artwork has an eye-catching visual complexity and depth that is matched by the concepts behind her work. Soon to be on display at Kingston Gallery in Boston from March 30 through May 1, the “Arrival” series takes ideas of revelation and revolution and abstracts them in a way that bridges the gap between the physical and conceptual. Vosburg is fascinated by how a painting on canvas can reflect the human experience back on the viewer. “A painting recapitulates our condition,” she said. “Because it is … [Read more...] about A GLOW FROM WITHIN: DIANNA VOSBURG’S VISUAL COMPLEXITY AT KINGSTON

In the Biblical tale of the Tower of Babel, the Hebrew God punishes proud humans who build to the heavens, scattering and cursing his would-be rivals to chatter henceforth in a welter of tongues. Modern linguistics takes the more appreciative view that evolution bestows on our species a chameleon-like capacity for languages. We are born into language with a brain equipped to learn it, and each child matures within a particular culture through the medium of its language. “Beyond Words,” a survey of visual art engaged with language, gathers 35 works in many media by both local and international artists at Boston’s Fountain Street Gallery, on view through March 27. Juror Gabriel Sosa, who teaches “Con(text)ualized Drawing” at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, wisely resists a Western-centric emphasis on written “text.” He delivers an inclusive overview of the diverse ways language … [Read more...] about MORE THAN WORDS: FOUNTAIN STREET’S INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE SHOWCASE