"Spring Bulbs" by Ani Hoover, Hoover's ink and watermedia paintings are on display at the Castellani Art Museum through September.

There is a visitor behavior in art galleries that I’ve heard described as the “art museum dance.” Confronted with an abstract artwork, the viewer will look at the piece at normal viewing distance; lean forward to read the title, in the event that the title will help them comprehend it more; step back to view again; and then lean in again to reread the title. This back-and-forth behavior may repeat—hence, “the dance.” Since the artwork is devoid of representation, it is hoped that the title (not applicable if it is simply labeled Untitled) may serve as a way to “get into the head” of the artist who created it.

Ironically, artists—including Ani Hoover, who regards her titles to be more like names—routinely title their works after they are completed. In that regard, the artist comes close to approximating the experience of the viewer, who might be searching for a visual point of reference for the work. They are both making associations drawn from their impressions. Some of Hoover’s titles simply reference the dominant colors in the work, while others are more referential, evoking an effect or perhaps even something representational. Works titled Fountain, Stain, Acid and Irrigate echo the aqueous properties of her chief media, ink and watercolor. Her titles, for the most part, seem to accommodate viewers’ frequent need to name the unnamed in abstract work.

The selection of Hoover’s paintings in this exhibition—a highly cohesive body of the artist’s best work to date—is not only visually engaging, it also advances an understanding and appreciation of her finely tuned and distinctly emblematic painting techniques. A cursory definition of her work is that it is imagery composed of repeated, multi-hued, circular shapes of water-based media that have been allowed to drip down across the surface of the paper.

In reality, the artist uses a complex range of processes and techniques that involve painting or printing the media in distinct shapes, then selectively wiping and removing the paint and ink to create increasingly subtle forms. The interplay between the additive and the subtractive and Hoover’s manipulation of the push/pull effect creates compelling illusory space. In Stain, for example, the circular forms alternately come forward and recede. A similar effect is achieved in the pink-, gray- and black-hued work titled Pinkish, which also has vertical spines of drips that weave among the forms, intensifying the depth of field effect.

All of the works are done on Yupo paper, which is not really a paper at all but rather a plastic material used as a substrate for watercolor painting. Since this “paper” has virtually no absorptive properties, the liquid media can be freely moved across its surface. This enables the watercolor and ink to be intermingled on the surface, thus creating intriguing textural effects. The media are also thinly applied in some areas to create soft veils of color. Working and reworking the surface to maximize these various effects is where Hoover’s talents shine.

The majority of the works include black pigment as an anchor to structurally organize the various color combinations in the paintings. Color can be one of the most daunting challenges for a non-representational artist, due in part to the visual and emotional force that color generates. Color is also a powerful signifier, often becoming the principal means by which we experience an abstract work. Hoover’s paintings, thans to her intuitive, broad use of color, each take on a personality or mood ranging from somber and meditative to celebratory. Some of the color combinations are unconventional and may surprise you. Can you imagine black, chartreuse and nearly fluorescent green working together? Take a look at the aptly titled Acid and judge for yourself. (This is a good example of a title underscoring the overall visual impression of the work.)

At the far end of the gallery is a grid of 60 small (9x12-inch) paintings. This vibrant, color-rich array of small works represent the artist at play. They are wonderfully expressive and experimental in nature. Here the use of color is even more wide-ranging and in some cases borders on garish. They are so visually exciting, perhaps because they seem so full of possibility and promise. In these works, the artist is pushing the media to its limits, then trying to push it even further to create new effects, forms and variations. (There are also hints of new compositional strategies, perhaps inspiration for future bodies of work that may transform the artist’s signature circular forms.)

Hoover’s “artistic brainstorming” has resulted in a fresh, compelling group of paintings imbued with the spirit of improvisation. Here, without the benefit of titles, we are left to explore the complex designs and visual impact of the work. The proximity of the pieces—the arrangement was determined by the artist—forces a dynamism among them as our eyes leap back and forth across the works, across the color spectrum and back again.

Finally, the Castellani Art Museum is to be commended for its thorough and thoughtful TopSpin Series of exhibitions that showcase primarily the work of artists in Western New York. The substantial length of time the exhibits are on view combined with the color-illustrated brochures with interpretive text the museum publishes for each exhibition demonstrates their serious and scholarly commitment to artists of this region.