For more than a decade, Liz Ward has been devoted to the study of natural forms and the sense of time implicit in growth and decay. Best known for silverpoint drawings inspired by tree rings, she recently turned her attention to other botanical structures, such as stomates, the mouthlike openings in the cells of leaves. Unlike many viewers, I am drawn to her work less by the microscopic subject matter (although the sweet sincerity and lack of ironic distance are themselves qualities worth praising) than by the airy draftsmanship, obsessive process and exquisite sense of color.
Referring to the onset of spring signaled by the greening of mesquite trees in south Texas, "The Mesquite Line and New Works on Paper" included six watercolors, two silverpoints and a massive collage of small gum-bichromate prints. (All works but the collage are from 2002.) Taken together, these pieces transformed the gallery into a kind of landscape, conjuring up a nature walk punctuated by sporadic, close examinations of a fallen leaf or a patch of moss.
The two silverpoints, Large Mesquite Pollen and Large Cascade, contain intricate, wobbly grids of threadlike lines on pale green gesso. Reminiscent of cellular structures, the etched patterns are the result of what must have been a laborious process that shows no evidence of impatience. The effortless quality of her touch reinforces the naturalness of the image and takes it beyond representation or simulation.
Verging on the hallucinogenic, Large Pollen Pool features an intensely green amorphous shape centered on a white square ground. The pulsating shape comprises concentric rings of watercolor, yellow at the outermost edge and gradually darkening to deep green at the center. The fluid irregularity of the rings' undulating paths is echoed in the way the watercolor has been laid down--not evenly but variously thick and thin. Fungia, a blatantly sexual image, also is centrally organized. From a tiny white slit ringed in cobalt blue, modulated gray-blue strokes radiate outward to form a puffy shape recalling the underside of a mushroom cap.
For The Mesquite Line (2002-03), Ward used the 19th-century photographic technique of gum bichromate to produce hundreds of small images of branches, leaves, seeds, birds and other natural forms less readily identifiable. Ranging in color from brown and gray to green, the monochromatic photographs were pinned to the wall in the form of a mountainous parabola. A microcosmic analysis of the changing of seasons, this work reveals the delicacy of the artist's imagination released from the meticulous handwork evident in the other pieces, and it suggests a promising new direction for her inquiries.
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