Lines between representation and abstraction begin to blur throughout many of the works that explore environments. Painters like Roxa Smith imbue work with ornate designs and candylike color, while Kathy Gore-Fuss’s landscape paintings are densely packed with more subdued colors, textures, and mark making that bring attention to their material construction. Caroline Golden creates collaged work with materials that call into question the construction of the American Dream while Kate Gordon’s collage paintings literally sew together recognizable imagery in imaginative and peculiar settings. The meticulously constructed collage works by Paul Loughney create the look of distorted landscapes with recognizable elements and text from colorful, commercially printed materials. 

Artists who are more singularly focused on process work use an array of materials to create formal works that appear self-referential or abstracted from daily observations. In some instances, these works reflect abstracted environmental spaces like the minimalist paper works by Robin Sherin, drawings by Dustin London, and layers of transparent paint that look structural in Lydia Kinney’s work. Several works in the exhibition appear to be the artists own abstracted language, found in Holly Wong’s richly patterned collage works or Cara Tomlinson’s paintings that use subtle color shifts in a sort of implied figuration. Material based abstraction is heightened by the sculptural works of Linda Smith, who’s process based work combines handmade materials that look composed of remnants. This is echoed in works by Ellie Anderson whose sculptural forms are reminiscent of portals woven from natural fibers.