RECOMMENDED
A piece of text from a hand painted store sign set the tone for Katharine Lion’s show at Old Gold. It read, “If you can’t stop, smile as you go by.” It is this form of wanderlust that Katharine Lion’s installation of digital prints and sculpture gives off. The digitally collaged images are ones of back alleys and beaches, trashcans and sunsets. Installed in a row and wrapping around the gallery, the images show an appreciation for small places and special moments. However, the frequent and clumsy use of exposed photo edges and contrasting subject matter (i.e. a sunset over graffitied concrete) makes some works read like clichés or simplistic statements. The best pieces take advantage of the collage format and make something out of the skips in the photograph as in “3 Sunsets” or “Moonscapes” or when the shift in image is submerged causing the curiosity of the situation to create the impetus to explore the photo, such as in “Winter Sun Settings” where a lakeside sunset is merged with light coming through the clouds. The effect is an exuberant and difficult beauty which most of Ms. Lion’s pictures exude when they are given the chance. (Dan Gunn) Through December 2 at Old Gold, 2022 N. Humboldt, (773)653-9956.