One fascinating aspect of Marie Vickerilla’s art is that it appears to come together with very little effort. Her new paintings, now on view at Thomas Masters Gallery, hold a grace usually reserved for stringed instruments and leaves… falling.
The former glass-blower from upstate New York, Vickerilla has traded annealers and blowpipes for oils and linen canvas. Her works are meditative, minus pathos and mathematics. In “East West,” a deep red background bleeds behind gray paint. It is applied thickly, the artist often using her hands, sans brush. She rubs away images and marks to create the layered effect.
Vickerilla shares, “My quiet shades are intentional. But the shapes just come about. After years you have your own vocabulary. They just kind of arrive.” And that they do, without bringing the viewer into any colliding, close emotional contact. There are oils because the artist “likes the smell.” There is linen “because somebody gave me a bolt of it.” Walking out the door, I gave a final parting glance. The works deserve it. (Jeffery McNary)
Through October 4 at Thomas Masters Gallery, 245 W. North Ave.
Repurposing AI: A Review of Stephanie Dinkins at Stamps Gallery While this show is timely for everyone, I consider its setting within a university art gallery and emerging tech hub like the city of Ann Arbor a subversive provocation which Dinkins invites the greater public—including members of the university community—to consider our own positionality to AI and technology.
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