Windows are evocative objects. Without someone visible looking through, they can bring about feelings of loneliness and alienation — and that’s what Holly Lombardo’s windows do for me. They appear lonely, detached and abstracted from the whole of the house, and I reach for the perennial allegory of the individual versus the society to account for that impression. The window, the individual, is an inseparable part of the house, the society. It looks intriguing, but pitiful and lost at the same time.
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This is where the artist shifts the gears of inspiration from Malevich to Kandinsky: these are much more chaotic, dancing and moving pieces, characteristic of the latter painter. Figurative remnants in the form of flowers and branches suggest that Don Li-Leger wants to create an original synthesis — his own interpretation of Kandinsky’s pure abstract style — a “contamination” of a sort. This is an admirable goal, but it remains questionable whether the artist truly achieves it.
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Must there be something symbolic in watercolors depicting water? I feel almost impelled to find a hidden link – and there isn’t one besides the relation made obvious by the words themselves. Watercolor is not the perfect medium — if there is one — for seascapes and scenes, but, as Holly Lombardo shows us, it is as good as any other. It’s particular way of drying on paper benefits some seawater characteristics, particularly the transparency and lightness of the upper layers. It interacts well with the white surface, reinventing it as light; the overall impression is of sunlit scenes or visual snippets of passing yet memorable moments.
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My first reaction to these paintings (Don Li-Leger art.com page indicates his tapestries as most popular) was to notice how the sound of their titles accords with the long, narrow shape. I realize that this is a somewhat irrational response, yet sometimes things — sounds and shapes in this case — just click. It’s as if the “a”s are given space to sprawl, from one square to another: in the case of Aura, each square may be assigned a syllable, like a musical note. Karma and Aura signal another turn in Don Li-Leger’s experimentation with the abstract-landscape ensemble (following the Iris Nine Patch and the Poppy Nine Patch). He sets these particular works apart by assigning them an unusual shape, consequently refreshing the entire concept.
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Holly Lombardo is a self-taught American painter and photographer who works in watercolors and acrylics, creating landscapes, still life and suburban scenes. She publishes her artwork on her blog, Painted Paper by Holly, and her photos on another blog, Photo Paper by Holly. Her photographs are interesting not only for themselves: many exhibit compositional features that may be traced in the artist’s paintings as well. In today’s review I would like to discuss Holly Lombardo’s landscapes with trees (images have been watermarked according to the artist’s request. Visit Holly Lombardo’s website to see the original reproductions).
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