Some abstract artists are unhappy to have their work likened to landscapes. Yet Fawna Xiao encourages the comparison, having dubbed her Hillyer Art Space show “Lost Land.” The D.C. artist’s silk-screened monoprints — one-of-a-kind editions — depict jagged, wedgelike cliffs, mesas and icebergs, as well as more vertical figures that might be sails or columns but are arranged like groves of trees.
Xiao’s work has an improvisational feel; its basic shapes are all hand-drawn and its multilayered blocks of color applied intuitively. The prints in this show employ mostly blue, black and white, a color scheme that seems Antarctic. (The white can be paper but also ink.) Three of the prints add red, sometimes unrealistically but always effectively. In the diptych of “Lost” and “Land,” the masses are twinned but not identical and further distinguished by being predominantly red or blue. While their subjects are inarguably craggy, Xiao’s prints don’t need to be geological to hold the viewer’s attention. Their clear forms, rich hues and complex tiers are compelling without further associations.
Hsin Hsi Chen, "LUX IV,” is on view at Hillyer Art Space.
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Also at Hillyer, Hsin-Hsi Chen has added another dimension (or two) to the depiction of geological, architectural or topographical contours. In “Lux,” the Maryland-educated New York artist works entirely with black pencil, drawing on white paper, wood or, in one instance, polystyrene. The latter material allows light to show from the interior of the work, a hivelike outcropping of panels placed in a corner of the gallery. But all four of the sculpture-drawings include LED fixtures; the glow is just less conspicuous from the ones made of wood rather than paper or plastic.
Because Chen’s pencil work deftly conveys depth, adding sculptural elements might seem superfluous. But in such pieces as “Lux 1.1,” the added range seems natural, not forced. And even the one traditional piece in this selection isn’t quite flat: The artist continues drawing on the sides of the wood panel. Such exuberant details suggest that, for Chen, expanding into 3-D wasn’t just logical. It was inevitable.
Fawna Xiao: Lost Land; Hsin-Hsi Chen: Lux
are on view through April 26 at Hillyer Art Space, 9 Hillyer Ct. NW; 202-338-0680; www.artsandartrists.org/hillyer.php.
Amy Lin
Knowing Amy Lin’s educational background is not necessary to recognize that she values precision and has an affinity for patterns and particles. A longtime Washingtonian who is living in Moscow, Lin draws with colored pencil on large sheets of paper, embellishing wide, pristine expanses with small, immaculate gestures. Originally, her protagonist was the dot. Then that form grew slightly and opened up a bit, until it appeared closer to a bubble. Outlined globules reappear in “Diffusion,” the artist’s show at Addison/Ripley Fine Art, but are no longer the dominant motif. Lin now includes ovals that suggest leaves or fish, lines that swoop ebulliently across the whiteness and dancing circles with tails.
The show is named for several of its works, and other titles feature such scientific terms as “abiotic” and “hydrolysis.” (All right, so Lin studied chemical engineering.) Yet her new work seems more organic, with overlapping lines and contrasting colors. In “Displacement,” blue and green teardrops group in two schools, shaded with yellow and orange, while a lone red one goes its own way. “Adoration” looks like a cross between a circuit board and a star map, with a few red dwarves blinking amid the mostly black and silver circles and lines.
