An Astonishing Piece

No single piece will startle or astonish with the wallop of Devorah Sperber's "Reflections on a Lake" (1999). We will not tell you everything about this piece, only that it is worth the trip to the Museum to see it.

This reviewer is not familiar with Ms. Sperber's work, but if "Reflections" ... is at all representative, it is clear that Ms. Sperber is one of the most promising artists working in NAWA today. Her credits include a solo show at HEREART Gallery in New York this year. That show's title, "Post-Digital 800 lbs. of Pixels," suggests that her images are reducible to elemental discreet blocks of color. The retina combines these picture elements (pixels) with often-astonishing results.

The hand-off from Georges Seurat to Chuck Close now goes to Devorah Sperber. Be advised that pointillism -- if this is pointillism -- is still a fertile ground for exploration.

As this piece performs its magic, it comes perilously close to entertainment. It is impossible to tell from just one piece whether Ms. Sperber crosses the line. We will conclude by telling you that Ms. Sperber takes 5,760 spools of thread of identical size, and through uncommon wizardry, she creates the gateway to Oz. Don't miss it.