Visual Art: Marina Graves exhibit at Northstar Brewery and Pub

Marina Graves’ new exhibit is now open at The Northstar Brewery and Pub, featuring a series of landscape photographs. As a project that examines the intersections of urban construction with the natural world that determines how we build our cityscapes, Graves’ pieces are refreshingly non-judgmental and seem to invoke the artistic eye that traces and captures instead of critiques. Graves also has the keen sense of how shadow and light (momentary conditions, it should be added) can play-up the drama of organic geometry meeting human vision. In this context, her photography contains a touch of the impressionist. The pieces are small-scale for landscape photography, which is a subtle (though rather innovative) presentation given that landscapes tend to be created in larger prints to give the viewer a sense of vastness. Graves asks us to step forward and take a closer look, simulating the gesture of artist in the creative act.

Incidentally, the community garden where Graves spends much of her time in the Spring and Summer months is only half a block away.

Marina Graves’ exhibit will be on-view at The Northstar Brewery and Pub, 3200 Tejon St., through the end of June.