Among the artists who have thrown in their lot with the vibrant color and simple image school of painting, Alan Lynch has developed one of the more unusual palettes so far. The colors are minor-key terra cottas, and not only the ochres, umbers, and siennas ordinarily associated with that term, but plums, violets, dusty rose, lichen green, with a few brilliant hues which perform a dramatic role in that context, jumping like seeds from a pod. The after images obtained with the pale terra cotta vibrants, on the other hand, do a slower shift and fade. And Lynch has occasionally written in a line, rather than depend on the shimmering line of yellow which obtains when lilac meets cadmium. The paint quality is soft, brushy and lustrous, properties of oil paint, not plastic. Though more or less flat, the forms are organic, in some cases recognizable flowers and seed pods, and have sharp edges, like the geometric forms which the vibe painters usually use. This compounding of heresies may make the “vibe” elders wonder if he is really among them; it may spread seeds of discontent among the less dedicated and loyal, infecting them with the desire to really experiment rather than repeating the famous clichés of vibe magic. Good show.

––Knute Stiles