TO SEPT. 29
“87,561 Strokes and Other Works”
“Layers of Color: Photography by John Gordy”
Troyer Gallery has a knack for mounting exhibitions by artists whose work resonates thematically. The current show, featuring Pittsburgh-based painter Linn Meyers and Washington-area photographer John Gordy, is no exception. This time, the focus is on surface texture. It may be cliché to say that works of art are built stroke by stroke, but Meyers takes that notion literally. To make works such as 87,561 Strokes, Meyers painstakingly draws rows and columns of centimeter-long lines. But she doesn’t lay them down with the geometric precision of high minimalism; rather, the lines are parallel in only a freehand sort of way. As a result, Meyers’ finished works shimmer with subtle depth, approximating the textures of translucent curtains, hung linen, or, occasionally, topographic maps (effects that are heightened when she draws on transparent nylon). Meyers’ larger pieces usually work better than her smaller ones, because they allow her more latitude to create interesting textures. One of the largest, XX1997’s UntitledXX (pictured), pleasantly breaks the mold; it’s a striking, 5-foot-square oil painting in which Meyers sews blue, red, and green strokes into a near-tweed pattern. Gordy, for his part, trains his lens on the abstract colored surfaces inside abandoned buildings. Whereas Meyers creates her surfaces by aggregating smaller units, Gordy chronicles the opposite processthe natural pitting and creasing of metal that inexorably reduces them into little bits. Though abandoned buildings are well-trod ground for photographers, Gordy’s bold colors, airy lighting, and formalist compositions stand out. Both exhibits are on view from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday to Saturday, Sept. 29, at Troyer Gallery, 1710 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free. (202) 328-7189. (Louis Jacobson)