“Rebirth” acrylic and mixed media on canvas by Ashley Joi
THE ART-STUFFED HOUSE THAT CONTAINS ZENITH GALLERY is a perpetual group show, so it’s complicated to identify which works are part of “New Works by Gallery Artists + New Artist, Ashley Joi.” The selection includes some of Joanathan Bessaci’s carved and shaped paper collages, retained from the previous exhibition. One standout is a dynamic set of wooden hands that reach for each other and away from a swooping base, made by Margery Goldberg, the gallery’s proprietor. Also eye-catching is an Anne Marchand abstract expressionist painting in which black dominoes are embedded in a pool of seemingly molten black pigment, by dots placed elsewhere in the composition.
“Homage to Soutine” carved mahogany and walnut by Margery Goldberg
The show’s new artist is Ashley Joi, whose mixed-media collage-paintings nestle Black women amid intricate patterns, and also embed such patterns into the women’s clothing, hair, and skin. The figures are integrated into fanciful depictions of the natural world, and include such characters as “Miss Love Bug Fern Fairy,” whose head is framed by a corona of petals. Most complex, and most appealing, is “Rebirth,” a fantasia of organic entities — a bee, notably — and decorative shapes. The picture combines elements of stained glass, printed fabrics, and nature illustration into a vision of a peaceable kingdom.
L-r: “Spica Virginis” by Anne Marchand | “Tiger” by Joanathan Bessaci
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