Precision vs. illusion

Dots and reflections stretched to their limits in exacting watercolors

The Rocky

Published November 23, 2007 at 12:05 a.m.

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Santa Fe-based artist Jeanette Pasin Sloan's gouache/watercolor Pink Dots IV.

A mixed-media work from Michael Zansky's "Supreme Court Series," in digital print and acrylic on paper.

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At first glance - as in looking at the shiny invitation card sent out by the William Havu Gallery - work by Jeanette Pasin Sloan appears to rank somewhere between decorative and pretty on the scale of serious art.

But, it's a fact: You really can't judge a painting until you see it in person, and that is the bottom line in terms of Sloan's show at Havu Gallery.

The painter, who lived for years in Chicago but is now based in Santa Fe, has found a style and technique that serve her well. She is all about depicting reflection and distortion, playing with the effect of pattern and the bending of optic qualities around silver or gold vessels.

That could register as one note, and some pieces in this show are variations on a theme, so to speak. But because of the variety of patterns she uses as backdrops and the downright bravura effects she achieves with oil paint, gouache and watercolor, Pasin Sloan elicits surprise and curiosity with the more than 20 works that fill the gallery's lower level.

If art is supposed to ask questions, prompt thought and conversation, and perhaps present larger truths, it's safe to say that this work asks just one question: How did she do that?

How she did that is to photograph these objects - cups and lidded dishes with shiny-colored interiors - stacked and placed so as to interact with the cloth behind and under them. There are a lot of dots here in various colors - they make for great stretched shapes - but also a Greek key pattern and one piece that has an almost floral feel to it.

Then she paints the result, the abstracted or elongated dots, the flared- out angles of the Greek key, the bent target-like circles as reflected in the vessels, the reflection of vessel in vessel, and on and on, including the glare caused by the lights used during photography.

In many cases, Pasin Sloan shoots from above, so that she and her lighting equipment do not register as part of the final image. But in a couple of instances, a viewer can see her tiny figure - with lights and objects, including paintings on her studio wall - and factor that into the work as an anomaly in a field of the expected.

That is especially true in the gouache/watercolor Pink Dots IV, which sends reflections of these circles skittering off into numerous directions, curving in unusual ways because of the shape of the object that is providing the reflected light. Look closely, and there is the artist, with lights blazing and what appears to be a tripod.

More often, though, Pasin Sloan eliminates that surprising personal presence and allows the works to be all about the shapes contained within, such as Full Circle, a strong collection of circles presented with a brightly colored backdrop, the rim and base of a cup, and the lid and base of a dish.

Precision and illusion make these works stand out, along with the new and unexpected way in which Pasin Sloan pulls us into her still lifes.

As a counterpoint, Havu has filled the mezzanine gallery with six paintings by Rick Dula that are all hard edges and pictorial reality. These include three views of the Denver Art Museum's Frederic C. Hamilton Building when it was a steel frame sculpture, and three examples of the elevator core remains (ruins?) of the old Rocky building as it slowly gave way to construction of the Denver Justice Center.

These images serve as time capsules, set against the Denver sky as reminders of the city's changing face.

Jeanette Pasin Sloan

* What: Paintings and lithographs by the Santa Fe-based artist, with paintings by Rick Dula in the mezzanine

* Where and when: William Havu Gallery, 1040 Cherokee St.; through Jan. 5

* Information: 303-893-2360; williamhavugallery.com

The Supreme Court Series

* What: Mixed media work by Michael Zansky, with paintings by Ricki Klages

* Where and when: Sandy Carson Gallery, 760 Santa Fe Drive; through Saturday

* The real draw: Undoubtedly there are fans of Ricki Klages' work, those attracted to the Wyoming-based artist's landscapes. In this show, grandly titled "Un Viaggiatore Agitato," she presents vistas from countries she has visited, then covers them with what amounts to a screen of objects floating above.

But my money, in terms of the two solo shows nearing an end at Sandy Carson Gallery, is on the otherworldly imagery produced by New York-based artist Michael Zansky.

Zansky works in the world of entertainment as an art director, creating set designs for productions such as Law & Order and a recent remake of Godzilla. His own work includes images and constructions both engrossing and whimsical.

Here, Zansky is represented by wall-hung digital and painted works involving objects - figural wood carvings, lenses, bolts - that seem to flow out of the flash point of the show: Supreme Court Series I, which involves three giant lenses through which a revolving head of George Washington appears, variously, really huge or upside down.

As would be expected from someone who creates environments, Zansky's work is something for a viewer to fall into, it's that rich.

* Information: 303-573-8585; sandycarsongallery.com

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