From the Studio

By Rose C. S. Slivka

Trust the Lizan Tops Gallery to mount a group show that is as balanced as it is contradictory, as diverse as it is directionless. But when painting has the magnetic pull of these 60 works by six artists, each as different from the others as they are collectively from any stylistic statement being made by, for example, the still current Abstract Expressionists, they have the right to be as quirky as they like.

AbExers they are not, involved as they are with the East End environment - its flora and fauna, its magic light, the mystery and energy of the Atlantic Ocean.

So it's a treat to go around this well lit and designed space and be drawn into the sheer pictorial power of Cynthia Knott's ocean horizons. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous. But more than that. This is an artist who surrounds the spirituality she embodies in her plein d'air paintings - yes, she actually works at the site, even during the height of the storm, at the edge of the sea - with numerous layers of transparent glaze, using oils, encaustic, and metallics.

Ms. Knott, who calls herself a "horizonologist," has developed formidable technical skills to express the special light that shines from the Atlantic. In "Valiance," the sky, which occupies most of the canvas, is a mixture of luminous pinks, blues, and grays hovering over a darkening strip of silvery sea. This series of five paintings, the largest of which is 36 by 54 inches, is without a doubt her most inspired to date.

Derek Buckner, on the other hand, knocks you out with the material substantiality of his darkening plein d'air landscapes, some of which are inhabited by beach vehicles that are chunky with persona and mood. In "Trucks in Conversation," he imbues a group of trucks quietly parked on a flat East End beach with intrigue and conspiratorial cluster.

Scott Kelley, a resident of Montauk, does an irresistible series of postcard paintings, both the picture and the message painted and mounted as if they were genuine local vintage discoveries. They are obsessively faithful to their original inspirations, down to Mr. Kelley's skill in reproducing every detail, including the stamps with cancellation marks and the aging of the paper. Called the "Wish You Were Here," series, they are intimate, nostalgic, and above all witty and lighthearted.

Dan Rizzie's unique horticultural forms and collage recall colonial and Victorian predecessors. This show of some 10 pieces features richly worked surfaces, particularly marked in his mixed-media on canvas "Tulipa," outstanding also for its large scale.

Gary Komarin's work has a soft focus on lyrical abstraction, its lavender and lime colors redolent with reflections on good taste, as in the water-based enamel and charcoal "Evidence," while Clifford Smith's works on paper, all studies of the ocean made in preparation for his larger canvases, are brusque and direct.

Most of the paintings in this exhibit were done this year. In fact, Mr. Buckner was still putting last-minute touches on a finishing shadow as the reviewer left before the show was to preview that evening.

The exhibit will run through July 21.