The accumulation of tiny units into a relatively single, unvaried surface is also basic to the paintings of Tim Deverell. As with Di Donna’s work, what you see is not what you are looking at. The paintings consist of closely placed imaginary organic fragments and organisms which vaguely suggest plant or animal life without being recognizably either. They are cartoon-like, similar to parts of creatures from Breughel or Dr. Seuss. These little things, whatever they are, and the shallow space they inhabit, are usually nearly the same color (red, blue, gray, or orange). From a distance, the paintings are fairly abstract and monochrome, with even, organically patterned surfaces which are relatively calm or teeming, depending on density of the fragments. Though the fragments are mildly eccentric, their accumulation is a usual kind of abstraction made more so by weak color. Deverell’s ability as a colorist and draftsman are much more apparent in four small watercolors. In these, the fragments are minute and finely drawn, forming multicolored spheres in which both colors and shapes flow toward the center. Their translucence and delicacy suggest Redon’s flower bouquets.

––Roberta Pancoast Smith