Reed Danziger's work stems from a fascination with anony-
mous forms of design and decoration whose origins, though
ultimately obscure, can be traced back to ancient cultures.
Her process of layering silkscreen, drawing and painting simu-
lates the unpredictable ways in which these forms have morphed
and mutated over the centuries as they have become assimilated
into the global network of signs. Like the development of language,
Danziger's signs become tangled and condensed to the point of
rendering context illegible and etymology indecipherable.

In Danziger's new paintings, color has seeped in with a vengeance.
Daring reds and pinks take center stage, while closer inspection
reveals delicate shades of blue, green, and peach dotted through-
out, quietly tempering the hegemony of the bolder colors. The Asian
influence is strong -- red from Chinese design, the more subtle hues
inspired by Persian miniature paintings. But the pink tweaks every-
thing, introducing an aggressive element that references a range of
cultural phenomena, from neo-disco fashion and 1970s design, to
Japanese animation, to artists such as Pipilotti Rist, Monique Prieto,
Matthew Barney, and Karin Davie. This work firmly situates Danziger
within the New Color Abstraction, one of the few art movements that
have been identified in the last decade, and one which has been ex-
plored in a number of exhibitions in the last two years.

Nelleke Beltjens' elegant steel sculptures with distinct angles and
smooth planes have their origins in Minimalism, with echoes of Robert
Morris, Tony Smith, Joel Shapiro, and Richard Serra. Yet the size of these
works -- small by traditional Minimalist standards -- suggests a confidence
that doesn't require a massive presence.

Beltjens' new works hug the ground and each other more insistently than
ever. Solid, singular pieces have fragmented into interlocking or discon-
nected parts. Cruciforms stretch across the floor, sometimes three feet in
length, while other works are tiny, only a few inches in any dimension.
Holes and slits, which in previous works evoked doorways and windows,
have given way to the spaces defining the meeting of two forms. Remnants
of architectural associations linger, but relationships have become prominent.
The notion of completeness is emphasized through the interaction or inter-
section of two or more parts, even if separated by space. All energy culmi-
nates at the points of connection, or crackles in suspension in the spaces
between.

Beltjens, born in The Netherlands, is completing her MFA at the University
of California at Davis.