Abstract Art

The current show at Mill River Gallery in Oella near Ellicott City, called "Landscape: The Tradition and Beyond," combines traditional landscapes with more abstract and conceptual works.One of the latter is Mary Walker's sculpture installation about the meeting of nature and industry. Photographers David Bartlett and Carolyn Lyons combine literal landscape with implications of abstraction. The show also includes abstract works by Edda Jakab and Rhona L. K. Schonwald.James Myrick and Sarah Abel DeLuca contribute cityscapes.

It's always easier to play it safe. Trace Miller, an artist with tons of talent, has at times left the impression of being satisfied with the tour de force painting replete with art historical references. They were good, but to some extent he was showing what he could do, not what he was.His recently opened show at Grimaldis reveals that he has taken a step forward. His new paintings are less immediately likable and more introspective. He retains the figure, but largely as a compositional device, for he has gone a long way toward abstraction in these works.

Say "geometric abstraction" and a lot of people get intimidated. Not only is it abstract, which means we can't immediately identify with it as relating to the world around us, but geometric seems hard and cold as opposed to organic, or warm and cuddly (at least in comparison).The show of painter Sean Scherer's geometric abstractions, at Grimaldis, may surprise those who expect this art to be forbidding. Yes, if you ask him, he'll say it has roots in the work of early 20th-century Russian suprematist artist Kazimir Malevich, and that sounds pretty esoteric.

An artist must show when and where he can, for there are few enough opportunities. Nevertheless, overexposure can happen, and that's the case right now with photographer Ben Marcin, who's in a three-person show at School 33.Marcin had an exhibit at Gomez Gallery that closed Aug. 9. It included a group of photos of house walls shown up close so that they resembled colorful geometric abstractions. In the School 33 show, he has another group of wall pictures, not as good as those at Gomez.In the Gomez pictures, doors and windows could be seen both as what they were and as geometric elements, so the images had a pleasing duality.

jacksonpollock.org What's the point? -- Jackson Pollock was one of America's most notable artists and a forerunner in the abstract art movement of the 1940s. He's known largely for his "splatter" paintings, and this site lets you attempt his methods on the computer screen. What to look for --It's simple: Just glide your mouse across the screen, and "paint" splatters will fall. Click the mouse, and the color will change. Make your own Jackson Pollock-style original, and although you may not be able to sell it for a Pollock price, you'll still have a ball expressing yourself through art.

Art of Jakab exhibited Go see the abstract landscape art of painter Edda Jakab, who died last year. The work is displayed at the Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. Hours are 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. today. Free. Call 410-276-1651 or go to creativealliance.org. FYI Art critic Glenn McNatt is on assignment. His column does not appear today.

It may seem that painter Richard Diebenkorn spent his life swimming against the tide.He lived on the West Coast rather than in New York, the capital of the art world. He began his career as an abstract expressionist in the late 1940s, but in 1955, when abstraction was still in the ascendancy, he abruptly shifted to representation. A decade later, when abstract art was in decline, he turned to a form of landscape-based abstraction distinctly outside the mainstream of fashion, and pursued it the rest of his life.

Although the 20th century has been called the century of abstract art, the figurative tradition has remained with us, and some of the period's greatest artists, including Matisse and Picasso, never abandoned it. Figurative sculpture of the 20th century is the subject of an exhibit of the work of 34 artists currently on view at the Mitchell Gallery of St. John's College in Annapolis.The traveling show, organized by the Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art of Wichita State University, features works by artists ranging in time from turn of the century figure Auguste Rodin to contemporary sculptor Manuel Neri, and includes Paul Manship, Jo Davidson, Jacques Lipchitz, Alexander Archipenko, Gaston Lachaise, Jean Arp, Theodore Roszak and Louise Nevelson.

They may look like simple iron candlesticks, tall and thin. But for interior designer Elizabeth Cross-Beard Marsh, they were more than just a decoration or a lighting accessory. They were an inspiration, for a room of soft beiges and abstract art. "I just fell in love with those candlesticks," says Marsh, one of 11 designers from the Mid-Atlantic whose works - each inspired by a unique piece of craftsmanship - will be on display at the Baltimore Convention Center next weekend as part of the 37th annual American Craft Council Show.

The problem with remembering passwords is that they have to be exactly right. But studies show humans are not very good at precisely recalling things. What they are adept at is recognizing something they have already seen. In particular, humans have a strong ability to recognize images. So a team of graduate students at the University of California at Berkeley is working on a project called Deja Vu, which asks users to base their passwords on computer-generated abstract art. A user picks out a personal portfolio of five colorful images.