In The Philadelphia Inquirer, Edith Newall reports that Jennifer Bartlett has returned unambiguously to her past in her current show at Locks Gallery. “At 97 feet long, and taking up two entire walls of the gallery’s second-floor space, Bartlett’s sprawling new plate painting, ‘Song,’ may be second in monumentality to ‘Rhapsody,’ her 153-foot-long enamel plate work from 1975-76, but it is a more rigorous, more abstract work, like the enamel plate paintings she made between 1972 and 1974, several of which are included in this show. There are some vaguely recognizable elements in ‘Song.’ A waxing and waning moon, perhaps, and a houselike structure come into focus. Now, of course, any Bartlett enamel painting, composed as it is of so many hand-painted dots on silkscreened grids, will seem to be referencing pixels. But what makes ‘Song’ exciting is its lyrical sense of motion within the confines of those plates and grids, all created with black and tan dots. Bartlett seems to be happier orchestrating many parts moving along the wall, too, than caught within the edges of one stretched canvas.” Read more.
“Jennifer Bartlett: From Rhapsody to Song,” Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. Through May 24.
