H'Arts Desire @ Florida Craftsmen Arts Lofts

The Arts Lofts above Florida Craftsmen Gallery is a group of rental studios. These artists put up a monthly show in the lobby by the elevators on the second floor, and always have more work in the ground floor lobby as well.

The Exhibit

Work by Javier T. Dones

I've reviewed Javier T. Dones' work here before [Link] Dones' work are a kind of external representation of his inner landscape, often involving organic forms, the colors and patterns of the tropical landscape of his native land, and spiritual overtones. Most of them are done in stressed metals. This one has wave-like ridges or striations around a central element, which at the core a darker gray shielded  or surrounded by a lighter gray.

Lee West, "Passion"

"Passion" is an oil painting by Lee West. A realistic-looking close-up of a plant and a quintet of flowers in different stages of blooming. Three of them are readily visible, then the other two slowly reveal themselves.

Betsy Orbe Lester, "A Good Mantra is Hard to Find"

Betsy Orbe Lester teaches at Eckerd College and at The Morean Art Center. She has been reviewed here before. In "A Good Mantra is Hard to Find" We see three cherries (or are they long-stemmed apples?) two stems point in one direction, the upper one in the other. Likewise, there are white 'vector' arrows, or lack of a better term, pointing right and left (forward/backward in time?). A third arrow connects the two lower forms, as if sequencing.

Work by Brian James

Brian James is a photographer with a studio in the Lofts. Most of the work hanging in his studio leans towards the commercial side, including fashion/modeling, but he has several landscapes and this close-up photo of an old VW Beetle. The oblique perspective works well compositionally with the rounded form of the vehicle.

Rebecca Skelton, "Desire, Labor, Regret"

Note all the compartmentalized sub-spaces in this oil painting. There are two yellowish rectangles at 90 degrees to each other, the vertical one has what appears to be a strange die near the top. The other boxes contain different things, some abstract-looking, some organic. One looks like an egg, there's a spiral, what appears to be a female figure in a log white dress, perhaps running to or from something...pearl-like forms, a box within a box, another female figure, this one looking like an insect trapped in amber, and a hand. Intriguing, mysterious and passionate, the kind of work that generates narratives and serves up questions.







Congratulations to all the artists and to Art Lofts for a small gem of a show.

--- Luis