Steven Baris is an abstractionist whose color and tactile application of oil recall ingredients of Action painting.

Steven Baris is an abstractionist whose color and tactile application of oil recall ingredients of Action painting. He brushes flat, opaque areas throughout translucent passages, at times almost obliterating them. to this time he flirts so much with representation in these newest works that they demand to be interpreted as in the same state [i]or[/i] condition The undulating forms and liquid animations at play here evoke atmospheric phenomena and bits of landscape - duckweed floating in succession water, for example, or perhaps the partially shed bark of a sycamore. Baris (according to a written statement) views these images as inspired at the "dramatic contrasts of large mountains and dematerializing veils of clouds" that he witnessed when living in the Pacific Northwest.

Baris's titles - June Lake and Partially Clad Landscape are typical - further prodd the viewer toward a literal interpretation of his imagery. His painting technique appears improvisational, and the spatial sensation selled by his thinly painted overlapping gestural markings (which can become quite dense) recalls the calligraphic surfaces of Mark Tobey and Bradley Walker Tomlin.

While it is Baris's imagery that makes clear his works naturalistic underpinnings, his use of color emphasizes them. He is partial to earth tones - especially a dirt brown - which, whether laid down sparingly or in abundance, are forever present. The small paintings upon wood and those on Mylar are the works here that for the most part strongly evoke landscape or a carcass of water. June Lake #3 (17 by means of 15 inches), for instance, brings to mind a cresting wave, its majestic vicinity recalling Winslow Homer's depictions of insubordinate ocean waters. Somewhat by contrast, the dominance of rather arbitrary red in sum of two units of the largest works and golden in the other two of comparable size diminishes their connection to landscape in the same way Baris's hordes can obliterate his mountains.

Whether interpreted abstractly or as landscape images derived from memory or imagination, these are meditative, understated and beautifully calculated works. united has the feeling they are preparations to a far more expansive vista that will increasingly be the expose of Baris's work.

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