Dan's Papers - March 28, 2008 - Art Commentary With Marion Wolberg Weiss

It was grey, cold and windy in Manhattan last week, so it was particularly pleasant to find oneself inside the Hoorn-Asby Gallery, among the dark woods and comfortable ambience. In fact, this critic felt like she had been transported to a French farmhouse, a description especially appropriate for Sherry Sanabria's current exhibit, "French Suite."

Sanabria's paintings generally center on architectural structures that have a provocative history. In this case, it's the "blissful tranquility" of French towns/villages, like Sarlat, Cahors and Turenne. But the artist has captured something much more than her subjects' formal aesthetic qualities of light, color and shadow. These same buildings hide a terrible secret, the setting of a Nazi massacre in 1944 where women and children were killed and buildings burned.

What's intriguing about Sanabria's work is the narrative she creates without the existence of people. Yet their presence is profoundly felt, the viewer pondering who has inhabited these places and what fate has held in store for them. The predominance of shadows gives a hint of the answers, suggesting that the individual experiences may not have been so joyful. Or rather, that these same experiences live on, persisting to this day.

Sanabria has an arresting way of creating meaning with atmosphere. What is more subtle, however, is her use of shapes and forms that make up her architectural elements. We must note that such elements are also archetypical in nature. Consider the arch shapes in "Turenne Entry," a configuraion that has long had a womb-tomb connotation. (It was, perhaps, the site of both the life and death of the Nazi victims.) The same form appears in "Oradour Confessional," where shadows, again, convey danger and mystery.

Other recurring shapes are archetypical as well, including the juxtaposition of horizontal and vertical lines making up various window constructions. Such juxtaposition spells disharmony and entrapment (although we realize most windows contain horizontal and vertical lines).

Sanabria's emphasis on box- shaped configurations, found in doors, windows and the confessional, demonstrates other examples of entrapment. While these particular images may not be as obvious at first glance (seemingly because they are part of a famliar environment), the consistent "closed" forms, like boxes, all add to the artist's perception of being trapped.

"French Suite" will be on view until April 14 at Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, 766 Madison Avenue at 66th Sreet, 212-628-3199.