Larry Graeber’s new exhibition, Water’s Edge, is awash with the in-betwixts and in-betweens on a multitude of levels. The show examines the area that exists between the shore and the water. This work is inspired and infused by childhood visits with his grandfather at the shore and a lifetime of thinking about these spaces and places. The joining between the land and the water can exist in salt, fresh, still or moving bodies of water. It can signify a day at the beach or the transmordial moment that our ancestors started to creep out of the water. It is a transitional and meditative space. It forces an individual to consider not only its physical nature but an emotional, intellectual and psychic moment because this place does not just mean a physicality – it signifies a moment in time and movement. Therefore, we look at Graeber’s work in this show as an examination of place and time and all that can be considered during that actual or imagined journey. The paintings and collages in the show explore this theme and are filled with the transmutation of matter and time. Even the materials in the work for the show often seem simple - some of the actual elements can seem quite ordinary. This can be seen in a sapphiric gem of a painting, Blue Lake, which seems at first to be an entirely abstract oil on canvas but in actuality depicts water and sky and shore in a small inlet. This movement between abstraction and realism is another example of the space in between that we see in these paintings. Juxtaposed to that, viewing Red Island, a collage composed of foil leaf and metal tape and paint on foam board is just as effective an examination of this theme but seemingly almost diagrammatic in composition. These two works on first viewing seem to be so disparate that one could question why they are in the same group - yet again, the artist is dealing with the edge of things and where different types of matter meet. So, the show is made stronger by their inclusion. This can also be seen in the two oil paintings, Bay and Blue Dream. Each a siren’s song to a balanced co-existence of the real world versus the imagined. Included in the exhibit are a number of paintings featuring the human form. In Retreat, Boatman and Bather there are abstracted individuals in these spaces caught between the water and land. Even though there are activities taking place, the individuals’ actions no matter their relative sizes never truly dominate the landscape and seascape. Retreat features two humans at the beach caught up in their own drama while the landscape around them is colorful and beautiful. Their large dominant forms are almost an imposition in the sand – effectively communicating this otherness of interaction and time. Conversely, the person in the Boatman is abstraction in human form. S/he is pushing a small dingy off the shore or pulling the boat onto the beach. The moment in time is suspended as s/he is completely caught up in concentration in the action being performed – yet completely familiar and understood in this snapshot. Despite being featureless in both paintings, the combination of the staging with the activities of the figures effectively communicates the composition and feel of each painting. Bather is a close up of the head of an abstracted person caught in this moment in time. The yellow hair and pale face of the figure is set against a veritable continuum of sky and water. There is a small spit of land that shows in the background. The bather is caught looking and thinking in an idyllic space. The style and placement of these figurations communicates and captures this sensibility of the edge. As the artist states: My work has and continues to be about convergences, subtle and consequential. The use of time both as actually captured and as inferred are important in these paintings. In Crossing and Industry there is a strong sense of the passage of time by the subject matter, title and the sense of the edge depicted. The Crossing is a homage to Thomas Cole and his Voyage of Life paintings. A small figure moves across the picture plane where the shoreline of a lake and a landscape are depicted. The figure travels through time and life in the painting which is a beautiful riot of markers, color and space. The sense of a passage feels strong here and helps one understand that the trek is the same as a life journey. The convergences of sky, water and a person feel similar to being on the verge and the beginning of a transition. Industry tells a different kind of story. Where one is spring and full of color and promise, Industry speaks to humidity and the changes wrought by human presence in a simmering landscape. With grays and subtle blues, whites and darker pastel colors, this painting shows an enormous sky, a thread of land with industrial buildings and the water meeting the two. The conglomerates of forms and colors create a different feel imbued with an inherent warning about a fragile environment. Yet, there is still the sense of beauty in the sky and the water which are bigger and more dominant than the human presence as indicated by the gray buildings. Water’s Edge is an examination of the space between the water and the land on many levels. Irrespective of media, time, composition and color, Larry Graeber is able to use this examination to infer and explore the beauty of the moment, human frailty and nature on vibrant canvases. The work transcends the moment and the place and calls to the viewer to enjoy the view, the Edge and life. Ellen Nettles Art Now Management April 2024