Natalie Settles' tiny patterns in graphite and gouache contrast with the pure white paper they're drawn on. These patterns, which mimic those observed in nature and Victorian decorative motifs, fuse art and science with a fragile tension. The artist's passion for exploring the common ground between these two disciplines can be seen in her small-scale drawings exhibited in "The Natural Motif: New Drawings by Natalie Settles" at the Charles Allis Art Museum (through May 3).
Overlapping repetitive shapes in her drawings uncover life beneath ordinary surfaces, often unnoticed by human eyes. This reveals itself through Settles' exquisite technique with graphite-soft, shaded and superbly subtle-which needs to be examined up close, similar to viewing material under a magnifying glass or microscope.
Two paintings, Fractionate and Insertion, portray this collaboration between art and science. The stark use of positive and negative space, black against white, draws fine lines through images of branches resembling human bones, appearing broken and splintered. They suggest that man may be injured by nature, or perhaps man himself destroys nature through careless use of the environment. Settles becomes most effective when she uses her skill with graphite to demonstrate this tension with frail beauty.
Other drawings created on composted paper appear as abstract silhouettes of decaying plants imprinted on mottled gouache, reflecting the slow degradation of natural materials back to earth and dust. Several of these are on exhibit in the smallest gallery on the second floor. When multiple patterns interfere with these intimate expressions, and Settles combines block printing, stenciling, graphite and watercolor within one frame, the implied meaning loses some luster.
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Settles, a 2008 Wisconsin Arts Board fellow who has exhibited internationally, shows the viewer that art and science can't easily be separated. Her drawings of twigs as broken bones prompt us to wonder what this delicate balance will bring in the future.
