Neill's exhibit Genus species opened at Goya Contemporary on May 25, 2011.

Download a PDF of the mini-book produced by the gallery below. An essay, Sweet Spontaneous Earth: Recent Works of Christine Neill, by critic Dominique Nahas is highlighted in the publication.

The exhibit, which runs through July 15, features three related groups of images Neill has been working on during the past two years. Orpheus' Orchid, Papaya Nuevo, Victorian Wicked and Toxic Beauty: Queen Emma, are large watercolor paintings layered with digital photos taken within conservatory greenhouses.

Four watercolors from the Balanced Stone series were exhibited in a large grid. See Cara Ober's comments in the June Urbanite Baltimore Magazine on the Eye-to-Eye page.

Prints on Plex are new works developed during the past year in collaboration with First Floor Graphics. In these 17" x 23" pieces a simple white frame holds a sheet of acrylic Plexiglas printed on the backside with a digital scan. Spacers separate the plex image from the background print, allowing a shadow to be cast onto the back image.

EYE TO EYE

CARA OBER is Urbanite's online Arts/Culture Editor.

Baltimore Painter Christine Neill's watercolor Balance of Herma depicts a precariously balanced pillar of stones. Set against a simple white background, the rocks' visual qualities become more pronounced and their place in nature less important. Craggy in texture with a chalky surface, the bluish-gray stones are rich in detail and fairly ordinary. Their arrangement, however, imbues them with a mysterious energy and links them to thousands of years of historical purpose.

Whether you prefer the Pete Seeger or the King James version, the image of a world in balance is captured in the famous "to every thing there is a season" Bible verse, which says, "there is a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together." Called "cairns" or "herma," piles of stones have been used by cultures around the globe as travel signs, religious monuments, ceremonial objects, and burial markers. Despite its simplicity, a herma is a powerful talisman, a monument to a primal human existence that extends beyond the basics of food and shelter. Cairns serve as reminders of people who have come before, as well as humankind's complicated relationship with nature.

It is unclear in this painting whether the rocks were physically piled on top of one another or the artist composed them on the page. Either way, they are engaged in an unstable relationship that requires a great deal of balance to achieve--an ideal vision. In a word that often seems out of balance, this particular pillar of stones serves as a reminder that individuals, environmental systems, and civilizations need to exist in equilibrium. An impossible balancing act, yes, but a worthy and timeless endeavor.

June 2011. Urbanite Baltimore Magazine. www.urbanitebaltimore.com

Downloadable pdf of Genus Species Mini-Book here.