Black-and-White Tales

PEORIA, Ill.—Simple and classic is one way to describe the gallery reception for printmaker Jennifer Anderson's "Absence Implicates."

The gallery reception was held at the Heuser Art Gallery on September 19. Anderson's pieces were on display from August 28 to September 20.

Anderson's prints were hung with black frames on a contrasting white wall. Her black-and-white artwork looks like simple flower and leave designs until you move closer. Closer, you can see lines that make the  flowers look newsy, and closer still you can make out waves and faces. The more you look at it, the more you see, which turns each of her pieces into a never-ending tale.

The piece shown in the photo above consists of two faces on either side, each one has a face that is looking longingly at the another.

Gender is hard to decipher here, but emotion is not; on the right hand side the onlooker is looking at someone who is clearly upset, while the other side features a character telling a story to his onlooker, who, with hand under chin, is clearly enticed.

According to the bio offered in the gallery, Anderson's prints arise from the folklores of her Southern Appalachian upbringing, and through her art she examines the complexity of the human form and life.

A story within a story, or many more, depending on how long you watch her prints.