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Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Maryann Michna "National Road" - Bona Thompson Center - March 10, 2004 - 2 1/2 stars

A video specialist at the Indiana State Library, Michna is too dependent on her camera to achieve painted works that make up this show based on her back and forth travels along U.S. 40, the old National Road, from her home in Terre Haute. There is a meditation that takes place when you drive great distances in a car by yourself with an awareness of horizon points, sky and landscape whizzing by. Epitomizing that experience most effectively is an acrylic on clayboard painting, "Three Views of 40," where three landscape scenes are stacked to achieve this experience. Other paintings executed with acrylics on clayboard are painted in a hurried, gestural way, like a painted sketch. Paint appears flat and opaque as it is thinly applied. The anxious appearance of the work overlooks tone and contrast while simply filling in shapes with some color. Through April 18, 2004;
317-353-BONA. -Mary Lee Pappas

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