The title of Bay Area artist Clare Rojas’ show at Andrew Kreps Gallery, ‘Go Placidly,’ captures the quiet and restrained feel of paintings featuring a reserved, dark-haired woman. It also casts an ominous pall on this painting, ‘They Were Both Stuck Inside,’ in which it appears that a woman who has fallen from a ladder (perhaps in an interaction with the bird in the background) has ‘gone’ in a final way. Complicated by a tiny mosquito which has landed on the woman’s leg, the painting’s narrative – perhaps best explained by a book on the back table titled ‘The Same Old’ – suggests that sometimes the unexpected arrives in a profoundly impactful way. (On view through May 6th).
