Contributed by Katy Crowe / Upon entering Fernberger Gallery, a welcome transplant from New York, the faint smell of oil paint introduces Nicole Wittenberg’s “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” the gallery’s inaugural show in Los Angeles. The title references a Count Basie composition, and the work does have the freewheeling feel of jazz. 

    The show consists of six large paintings in the main gallery, one behind the desk, and several pastels and smaller studies on panels in the office area. All depict woods, sunsets, or moons in Maine. The loose, generous gestures of paint across the surfaces are expressionistic and energetic, with a decidedly positive vibe. The palette is often dark but the ground Wittenberg paints on is bright orange, almost vermillion, so when it peaks from behind a tree or the sky the painting is subtly illuminated. One can feel the air and the sea close by, redolent with the scent of balsam.

    Other notable painters of Maine are Marsden Hartley whose paintings are tough and muscular, and John Marin, who worked in watercolor. Both painted the landscape and reflected the ruggedly beautiful terrain of forest, rocks, and water. But Maine ‘s license plates are now labeled ”Vacationland,” and these paintings all feel like summer walks in the woods and mild air — gestural with a fauvist twist.

    Two very distinct paintings – Midsummer Morning 3 and Water Grass – present the same view through the trunks of white pines that bend towards each other, brightened by morning light. In both, the orange ground activates the sky. But in Midsummer Morning 3, the sun is low in the sky, the trunks are substantially in shadow, and the sun seems to be straight on. In Water Grass, the sun has apparently swung around and illuminates larger portions of the trunks from the left. Yellow flowers have bloomed between the trees; maybe it’s a little earlier in the summer. There are also two small panel studies of the same spot.

    Pieces 2 is of the sunrise or sunset, obscured by clouds, moody and dark, with the first or last light of day glowing through the clouds. A tree frames the right side; barely discernible blue on the left that could be water in reflecting the night sky. Perhaps there is a cove on the other side. The large scale amplifies the drama and sweep of the painting. Strawberry Moon and Broke Moon both capture the moon’s image on water, one being reminiscent of Edvard Munch but without the melancholy, the other of Albert Pinkham Ryder but without the mystery. In both, orange ground lights the woods and water as a full moon might.

    The plein-air pastels are sketches that Wittenberg develops into the small oil-on-panel studies for the large paintings. The two early steps afford her the opportunity to inform the final paintings with the memory, feeling, and personal vision that lend them romantic energy and make them come alive. Wittenberg’s bold work reveals the intense pleasure of painting and makes for an audacious LA debut for the gallery.

    “Nicole Wittenberg: Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” Fernberger Gallery, 747 N. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA. Through March 16, 2024.

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