18 Dec 2018

Theodora Varnay Jones: Dialectics: angles of cognition, in the orbit of photography

Don Soker Gallery

Reviewed by Barbara Bryn Klare

Tucked atop a flight of stairs on the second floor of an inconspicuous brick building, Don Soker Gallery is perfect for works that invite contemplation and intimacy, such as the current exhibition of Theodora Varnay Jones. It features a heady, monochromatic mix of works on paper, encased objects, sculpture, frottage, silverpoint drawings, and photography. Each piece lands in a periphery, oblique but restful.

Quiet dialogue occurs across media, process, and context. In Reflections (2018), a small combination drawing/photograph, horizon lines arrive in the middle of a lake of nothingness. Reality drifts hazily in the balance. In Mimic (2018), a painted length of driftwood converses with the crumpled paper sculpture in the case beneath.

Many of the pieces were produced during a residency at the Morris Graves Foundation, where artists retreat "unplugged" - no cell phones, tablets, or cameras - in the artist's former studio. Like this show, the experience is refreshing and deeply nurturing, hydrating to the hurried mind.