Minako Iwamura in ‘Transcendence’ at JDJ Gallery

Work by sixteen artists in JDJ Gallery’s light-filled new Tribeca gallery space argues for the vitality and variety of abstract and near-abstract 2-D work by harnessing form, color and light to create alternative places and states.  Minako Iwamura’s selection of several small paintings on wood panel and larger works including Plexus (pictured here) speak to the New York-based artist’s interest in duality which she expresses by combining linear geometry and swelling, organic forms.  Alluding to the human form in their curving shapes yet transcending the corporeal with a network of thin, white lines that take the mind beyond the painting’s boundaries, Iwamura suggests a mind-expanding awakening. (On view through Jan 13th).

Minako Iwamura, Plexus, oil and white charcoal on cradled wood panel, 40 x 30 x 1.5 inches, 2023.

Julia Felsenthal at JDJ Gallery

Julia Felsenthal is the first to acknowledge that many artists before her have painted the sea, while also observing that, even in her own production, each rendition is different.  The Brooklyn and Cape-Cod based writer and painter tempts viewers to stop in front of each of her small watercolor on gouache studies of sky and water at JDJ Gallery in Tribeca to appreciate the various effects of light, mist, cloud, sunrise, water depth and more.  Sublime in power yet compact in form, Felsenthal’s waterscapes speak to the endless beauty and fascination of the ocean.  (On view through July 21st).

Julia Felsenthal, Glinting Sea, watercolor and gouache on paper, 12 x 9 inches, 2022.

Bea Scaccia at JDJ Gallery

Hair, clothing and jewelry were of utmost importance in the small town where Italian artist Bea Scaccia grew up.  Now a New Yorker and long-since escaped from the cultural norms of her youth, the artist is showing painted assemblages at Tribeca’s JDJ Gallery of items – wigs, gloves and ornaments – that allow individuals to role-play through dress.  Titled, ‘A belief in physio-gnomic principles,’ this grouping of ringlets and puffs of fur hints at a figure without revealing one, mock-suggesting that accoutrements make the person. (On view through May 27th).

Bea Scaccia, A belief in physio-gnomic principles, acrylic on canvas, 42 x 42 inches, 2022.