Paintings Contemporary

Chicago, a north-light studio, a canvas still tacky at the edges. Contemporary paintings arrive from working studios in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and Vietnam, in acrylic, oil, wax and ink on canvas, paper, wood and aluminum. Abstraction and figuration share the wall: landscapes, nudes, animals, horse-and-rider studies, gestural work with names like Rorschach Warriors, Inferno and Cicada. Mark Westervelt builds faces from peeled skins of dried paint. Brian Sindler paints landscapes and nocturnes out of plein air practice. Two Chicago painters, two very different roads.

Wax and encaustic hold a soft, layered depth; acrylic on aluminum has a hard modern sheen. Hang one beside a Chinese elm cabinet, an Ashanti stool or a Moroccan rug, and the old pieces finally have something to answer.