WENHAM — A local art gallery is putting on its first abstract show, highlighting works that range from translucent rubber sculptures to layers of painted dots.
Japanese-born sculptor Niho Kozuru is among the featured artists, and the found objects that she recasts in translucent rubber are part of the exhibit "Points of Departure," which just opened at the Gallery Della-Piana.
Owner Elissa Della-Piana said this is her gallery's first show featuring "nonobjective" artists, which means the artist is not starting from a single object and interpreting it.
"It is starting literally, as it were, from nothing," said Della-Piana, who teaches at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly. "Just the paint itself or the canvas itself and having that become the focus."
The exhibit features a mix of six established and emerging artists, said Della-Piana, who opened the gallery almost three years ago. During that time, it has mainly displayed representational art, she said.
"I kind of took a big leap into the community," said Della-Piana, a Wenham resident, "and decided to exhibit what I think are six really outstanding nonobjective artists. ... Even though it's commercial, I love to think of my gallery as something of a teaching gallery, as well."
Here is what she had to say about each of the featured artists in "Points of Departure":
Masako Kamiya — Born and raised in Japan, she attended Montserrat, among other art schools, and teaches at Montserrat. For her technique, she paints a dot, lets it dry, paints on top of it, lets it dry, and so on.
"She keeps on doing that until she virtually creates a tower of dots," Della-Piana said. "It creates a rather stunning illusion."
Rose Olson — A Beverly resident, she paints acrylic on wood paneling "with the thinnest applications of color that are so thin, they're translucent," Della-Piana said, "and her paintings look as if they're pieces of fine silk stretched over wood."
Michael Pasquale — An architect and interior designer, he has also been creating paintings of stretched canvas over wooden structures.
"He'll build what almost looks like an architect's model of a building in wood," Della-Piana said, "then over that form, he stretches canvas, then paints it in stripes that actually break the form."
Pamela Shaw — The youngest of the group of artists in the exhibition, she works by drawing on a white surface with rods of metal.
"It's like drawing with a sterling-silver spoon on paper," Della-Piana said, "but that sterling leaves the tiniest residue of silver, and it tarnishes into a line with a certain length of time."
Robert Cipriani — A retired graphic designer and art director, he paints highly textured canvases in which he uses glass, metal and paint combined.
"Sometimes the mixture is headed and allowed to melt onto the canvas, and they give the illusion of an unusual landscape," Della-Piana said. "He calls this particular group of paintings 'Islands in the stream,' and they almost look like you're standing in the ocean and looking at the ocean floor."
Niho Kozuru — A Japanese-born sculptor who makes castings of found objects in colored rubber.
"People think it's colored glass at first," Della-Piana said.
Lifestyles Editor Amanda McGregor can be reached at 978-338-2665, amcgregor@salemnews.com and on Twitter @AmandaSalemNews.
If you go
What: "Points of Departure" exhibit
Where: Gallery Della-Piana, 152R Main St., Wenham
When: Runs through April 21
Hours: Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
More information: www.gallerydellapiana.com or 978-468-1944
