Looking Back

Ever walk through one of the greatest art shows you've seen in a while and then, looking for more of the wonder, happen to peek around the corner into a gallery's "back room" and been completely aghast? Even the blue chippiest of galleries tends to heap stabled artists' work together, making some of the loveliest, liveliest, and most intelligent pieces seem like something you might pick up on sale at the neighborhood schlockatorium.

This month, Trina Traywick, owner of Berkeley's Traywick Gallery, addresses the back room in a show called "Revolver." Acknowledging the uncurated nature of these back spaces, Traywick will repeatedly regroup work from her storage area as new thematic shows come to mind. Artists have also been encouraged to bring work in through the duration of the show as they complete it, adding yet another fresh dynamic to the exhibit.

Included in the show are Jamie Brunson's pair of paintings Tenebra and Alba. Although Brunson's built-up layers of oil and alkyd on square canvas panels both feature the same formal wallpaper pattern, each creates a completely different spirit. The first panel's rich, velvety brown hovers around a lighter brown negative space, producing a haunting visual effect. Contrarily, the second panel, with its fawny gray tones, calls the viewer to an eerie nowhere, a dissolve into mediocre nothingness. The absence of the artist's hand is ever-present, highlighting the way seemingly neutral spaces can be emotionally charged. "Revolver" continues through Jan. 10 at the Traywick Gallery, 1316 10th St., Berkeley. There will be a holiday reception for the show on Tuesday, Dec. 15, from 6 to 8 p.m. Admission is free; call (510) 527-1214.

--Marcy Freedman