Kate Roesch at WCC

continued

current exhibit of monoprints and paintings.

Seven giant, vivid paintings give the strongest first impression, but Roesch's twenty-five prints make the viewer pause longest. Soft charcoal-like smudges; thin, wavery lines; and liquid, streaky brushstrokes form a textural-salad novelty that prolongs the gaze, allowing Roesch's evocative imagery to sink in.

In her abstract series Skyscapes, a milky cloudlike form floats in blue above a cool swath of meadowlike green. Colors shift from print to print, but the basic shapes and the peaceful, quiet mood persist. I felt like running out onto the green meadow under the silent cloud. I was unsurprised to find that several prints from this series were already sold — before the show's official opening.

The print Memory of Water shows a smiling woman in a red dress, hands clasped behind her, on a sinuous riverine path that snakes into the distance under a haze of brush or smoke. The vague cocoon-baby form next to her is what draws the eye. Drawn in outline, in contrast to the woman's distinct, sun-washed features, this ghostly pupa-baby seems to hold out one unheeded arm to her. It's spooky, suggesting a lost child or childhood, perhaps willfully ignored by the smiling woman.