Sydney Licht (American), “Still Life with Open Box.” Courtesy of the artist.

The Zillman Art Museum, University of Maine, located at 40 Harlow St. in downtown Bangor, has opened five new exhibitions that will run through Dec. 3 (second floor galleries) and Dec. 30 (main floor galleries).

ZAM is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and brings modern and contemporary art to the region, presenting approximately 21 original exhibitions each year. Admission to the Zillman Art Museum is free in 2022, thanks to the generosity of Birchbrook.

Anat Shiftan (American, born Israel), “Flora & Forest in Yellow and Green.” Courtesy of the artist and Hostler Burrows, NY/LA.

ANAT SHIFTAN: LIFE & STILL

Sept. 23 to Dec. 30

Israel-born artist Anat Shiftan expands our conceptions of ceramics in this large-scale exhibition which features a wall installation that spans over twenty feet, as well as recently created pedestal-based works. In the creation of the 41 works, which contain over 200 components, Shiftan has employed an array of production methods including slip casting, wheel throwing, hand building and industrial artifacts.

In the “Phylla in Blue” wall installation, composed of 72 individual porcelain units, the repetition of delicate curled forms produces a subtle undulating movement. While the tranquil pale celadon blue-glazed forms evoke the notion of underwater flora, for the artist “nature is an invented image that exists only as an idea.” Shiftan states that “color is a strong presence or absence in my work,” and this is demonstrated by compositions employing color in contrast with others glazed in solid white. In “Still Life in White,” the artist highlights the history of travel and trade in pieces that draw connection to Greek, Chinese and European heritages.

Shiftan’s large-scale work, Wallpaper in Green and Pink, seen for the first time in the Zillman exhibition, was created in response to her readings on the objectives of wallpaper designs by the influential 19th century designer William Morris. Similar to the aims of the designer, Shiftan states that, “My installation is a dimensional iteration of Morris’ statement on bringing nature back into our space” and to “regain the connection with nature.” In hues of chartreuse green and pink tones, Wallpaper in Green and Pink consists of over 95 individually-sculpted components that activate an expanse of gallery walls. The curved, extruded tubes terminate in an array of hand-built flower petals in both semi-gloss and dark maroon lava glaze.

Anat Shiftan is professor of art at SUNY New Paltz, New York, where she is the head of the ceramics program. She has exhibited extensively in both the U.S. and Israel and is represented by Hostler Burrows Gallery.

SYDNEY LICHT: SHELF LIFE

Sept. 23 to Dec. 30

In “Shelf Life,” New York City-based artist Sydney Licht expands the long tradition of the still life genre with her bold, yet uncluttered paintings. Licht’s compositions offer a striking contrast to classical representations of still life. Instead of draped tables with plump, fresh fruit carefully arranged in decorative vessels and spread amongst an array of other fine objects, Licht offers a pared-down compositional approach. The artist’s chosen sources—mostly humble and readily-accessible items — are depicted sitting atop shallow, flat surfaces that hug the bottom of the picture plane. A recurrent subject in the artist’s paintings are mass-produced, disposable plastic tubs that are chock full of bite-sized pieces of fruit or candy. Far from fancy, these translucent containers and their packaged contents highlight a quest for convenience and the fast-paced nature of today’s consumer culture. Licht poses the question, “Has the shelf life of the still life as we’ve known it reached its expiration date?”

Licht’s paintings are also explorations in color, texture and pattern. In Still Life with Shirt, a patterned blouse, with meticulously-painted jagged stripes, hangs in front of an expanse of peachy-pink. In several featured works, stacks of quilter’s folded fat quarters and assorted washi tape — each with pronounced colors and patterns — serve as inspiration and offer dynamic slivers of interest. Lush and varied surfaces are created through the artist’s rendering of the collected objects using a palette knife loaded with viscous paint.

By elevating often overlooked objects — from slender packages of sweetener to hand soap dispensers — Licht encourages the viewer to explore the uniqueness of manmade objects along with those found in nature.

Andrew Baron (American), “Container.” Courtesy of the artist.

ANDREW BARON: ALL THIS I GIVE TO YOU

May 20  to Sept. 3

“All This I Give To You” showcases over 60 paintings by New Jersey-based painter Andrew Baron. The exhibition features an assortment of works that range from ten by eight inches to six foot tall compositions that embody the artist’s unfettered freedom to navigate both non-objective and representational modes of painting. Baron states that these paintings are “a result of my self-conscious effort to move away from notions of a coherent body of work and the cultivation of an easily identifiable style; an effort to allow more and exclude less in respect to modes of representation, paint application, and conceptual thrust.”

In the exhibition, solely abstract compositions share space with those that depict the figure, landscape, and elements from the built environment. Central to the artist’s process is exploring the material quality of paint and the rich and varied surfaces achievable through the medium. Baron’s palette runs from moody chromatic grays to heavily-saturated colors of vivid yellow and blues, attesting to his skill as a colorist.

Humor winds its way through the exhibition. The peculiarity of Baron’s figures, and the comically-rendered faces in several works, provide a number of lighthearted moments. For instance, in Vacation, a hastily painted man with seemingly sunburned skin stands awkwardly in the landscape, while in Hi, Neighbor, a strange fellow appears to be either peering over a hedge or emerging from a mound of soil. In other somewhat mysterious works, the artist’s stylized, quirky figures appear hunched over as if pulling weeds or engaging in forms of manual labor.

Baron creates an environment where abstraction — with its pure gesture and mark-making — merges with imagined subjects whose purpose and narrative are just out of reach.