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Art Espresso is ArtScope.net's shortlist of recommended exhibitions currently showing.

Nancie King Mertz:
2000 Miles of Spain

November 12-22, 2004

Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Arts
1012 N Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60610
tel.: (312) 642-4400
hours: Wed-Thu 3-7p, Sat-Sun 1-6p
http://www.paletteandchisel.org/

The dramatic color and vibrant subject matter of Spain are presented by Nancie King Mertz in these forty-six renderings in oil, pastel and watercolor. Shimmering with color, saturated with light, Mertz presents the tranquil, yet vibrant landscapes and cityscapes of Barcelona, Madrid and the surrounding countryside in all variations of mood and time of day. The works, completed on-site during her travels, evoke delicate variations of light and scene as well as a distinct sense of place. In Segovian Aqueduct (2004: pastel: 12-1/2 x 16 in.), the rich vivid pastel of the foreground captures an impressionistic play of purple hints of shadow in the leeward side of the great arch, while the lightly-drawn towers in the distance lend depth and hint at the dazzling heat.

The exhibition also includes seventeen new plein-air paintings done on-site in Chicago, from the pastoral setting of Lincoln Park's garden vistas to the sophisticated modernity of Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate in the new Millennium Park. Nancie King Mertz: 2000 Miles of Spain will be on exhibition through November 22, 2004, a short run; one will wish to catch it while it's here.

--Katherine Rook Lieber

Katherine Rook Lieber has edited ArtScope.net's Visual Arts reviews since 1998. Ms. Lieber is Editor and Associate Producer for ArtScope.net.