Ten days in Russia by Eileen Mayhew

"The paintings in this series do not attempt to describe Russia, a country I cannot possibly claim to understand in the ten day I spent there", says Kathy Hodge. "They come from sorting through a flood of impressions: arduous travel, fatigue, impossibly rich imagery, stark monumentality, patience, troubles and beauty." If this was the feeling that the artist wanted to convey, she succeeded. Her work imparts all these sensations. They are not so much about Russia as they are about what it feels like to a newcomer traveling constantly and viewing the ever changing exotic sights, flying through the countryside on the commuter train or bus or via canal boat. But one senses the swirling atmosphere of the climate and the ominous quality of its history.

Working from charcoal drawings and small watercolor sketches, as well as photos and video, she created a series of impressive canvases, displayed alongside her reference drawings in the exhibition. The charcoal sketches pale in comparison to the dimension and color of the paintings. Her compositions and unique use of perspective are faceted in concert with her distinctive color sense. This is a body of work focusing on different kinds of arrangements with each directional line and shape firmly interlocked, frontally and tightly cropped. There is attention to the "frantic energy" of the decoration and pattern that exists in the Russian culture, particularly in the church structures. Her description of the architectural elements of the secular landmarks has an almost iconic flavor, similar to her rendering of the cathedrals. The colors, shapes and composition give the same impressions.

The frames add an important dimension to her series. She fashions them from shards of pottery, broken plates, bowls, urns and terra-cotta pipes found along the shoreline. She says, "I found all colors and patterns, worn by the sea, crackled and stained. As I worked on the Russian paintings, the mix of decoration and aging by the elements in these shards reminded me of the worn facade of St. Basil's in Red Square.I have used them to create frames encrusted with mosaic." The design enhances the depth and cultural flavor of the Russian cityscape.

Entering the gallery, Assumption, exterior walls and painted arches of the Church of the Assumption in the Kremlin, Moscow, draws attention to itself through its elongated and exaggerated archways. They seem to pull the viewer through the three openings like a magnet to nowhere. There is a push and pull of the space. The pillars are painted in an illusion of three-dimensionality, while all the other shapes are flattened. There is a play between geometric and curvilinear shapes, while the frescoes of the façade allude to the Biblical scene of the Assumption story. High shelter, under the pillars of the Kazan Cathedral off of Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg during a rainstorm, emphasizes the repetition of verticals, a feeling of monumental claustrophobia. Bright yellow verticals lead to a small dark window at the top. Using a brilliant palette without being too intense, she creates a tension between deep space and shallow space, a push and pull of undulating color in each vertical giving a vibrating quality. Looking for the Other, the interior of the Cathedral of the Assumption, Kremlin, Moscow, does this again. It is like a stained glass window of biblical scenes that surround a small window showing the sky in all its glory, a window within a window, leading one to wonder if she chose this device as her escape from the starkness of the Soviet architecture. Baltic Station, a train station on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, does not resemble any real train terminal, but seems to be a metaphor for a sense of isolation. It is stark, cubist-like in its construction, at once receding into deep space and at the same time claustrophobic and shallow in its atmosphere. There are three small figures; one is cropped in the foreground with a figure almost standing on its shoulder. There are juxtaposing rectilinear shapes spiraling toward a doorway with a small figure entering, a forlorn sense in a place that should be teeming with daily life. Hidden in a corner, but dominating its position, is Deep Blue, the interior of St. Basil Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow. It is an imposing archway, covered with a pattern of resonant blue shapes, under which is a smaller arch filled with a brilliant light of its own. This time, instead of cropping a figure at the bottom of the painting, she crops this lighted arch. It is an unusual perspective, but makes the light almost come alive, spiritualized. The frame is particularly enhancing as it is filled with pieces of broken, radiant blue china that bring the effect to fruition. It reminds one of the Russian taste for busy patterns, but instead of being frenetic, it harmonizes with the color composition and is an added delight to the senses.

Several Russian immigrants visited the exhibition in Providence when they heard about an art exhibit featuring their native land. Hodge did not intentionally include any references to political opinions, but these visitors noticed that there were images alluding to the Stalinist era. She was not aware of this when she put this series together, yet they accused her of taking political sides, reading the exhibit from a very particular point of view.

This exhibition brings the viewer to Russia on the tip of Hodge's brush and imagination. She celebrates this culture in her own way as a curious and independent observer. Her explorations are to be shared with us and while they are not exactly what the artist has seen, they are her unique interpretations and effectively communicate the atmosphere of Russia.