Existential tensions of contemporary life are addressed head-on by many of the watercolor painters in the New England Watercolor Society’s Biennial exhibition. Following in the watercolor traditions of the great masters, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent, many of the paintings deal with the stresses of life. No one has painted a despairing fisherman’s wife looking out to sea for her lost husband or Italian marble quarry workers cutting stone. But the artists do address addiction, loneliness, homelessness and anxiety. In an exhibition dominated by conventional watercolor motifs of fruits and flowers, seaside shacks, birds, boats and beaches, several artists grapple with the problems of modern life. Courageously, they turn their eyes away from the romantic symbols of beaches and boats, often with exceptional technical skill. Carolyn Latanision’s “Ladles and Cranes Ready; … [Read more...] about A Modern Spectrum: Fresh Watercolors at the Art Complex