Art and Nature Entwined

Art about nature has been pervasive enough to give landscape painting and other common natural expressions a garden-variety character. Still, there are plenty of creative options and new ways for artists to address the lure of nature in their work.

Take the current two-person show at the Platt Gallery at the University of Judaism. Its title, “Natura Naturata,” derives from philosopher Spinoza’s dictum that God and nature are innately intertwined. For the purpose of this show, just add art to the equation.

Upon entering the gallery, you know you’re not in the land of Sunday painters. Harriet Zeitlin’s “A Forest of Columns” is a tree-like “grove” of sculptures fashioned from palm trees. Nine tall pieces, appearing as a diverse group of totems, extend from basic palm-tree references to pieces with more elaborate and surreal ornamentation.

Bunched up here, the works have a clear culture-meets-nature aspect. They appear like a land-based substitute for sculpture made from driftwood, another ephemeral source material.

An artist who has worked in various media, Zeitlin has recently been obsessed with palm-tree debris, a common sight in Los Angeles. From these natural “found objects,” she creates relief pieces using palm fronds and castoffs both beautiful and rugged, which are then painted white and black. These works, in the series called “Windfall,” suggest abstractions in which art and nature interlock.

Pat Berger deals with landscape painting in a particular, personalized way, inspired by the terrain she encountered at a retreat in Costa Rica. Her acrylic paintings burrow into the stuff of vegetation. Rather than making calmly objective compositions from the sidelines, Berger adopts a more amiably intrusive approach. She rubs our face, happily, in the thicket.

In a way, Berger’s compositions adopt a camera’s view, mimicking photography’s uneven diffusion of light and depth of field. “Patch of Green” finds one well-lighted section of brush amid a darker purple backdrop dripping in rough charm. In “Jungle Medley,” the subject is thick and humid, not seeing the plants for the jungle.

A different mode of photo-like imagery--the casual snapshot--underlies “Pablo With Yellow Flowers.” Here, a boy stands in a pleasantly overgrown backyard, posing in the familiar stand-and-shoot manner.

On the face of it, the painting is a curious play off snapshot aesthetics, but things are strange and fuzzy, including the artistic perspective. The result is an image wrested from a dream in which nature, innocence and a mystical searching quality melt together.

BE THERE

“Natura Naturata, Recent Works by Pat Berger and Harriet Zeitlin,” through Sept. 10 at Platt Gallery, University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland, Los Angeles. Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (310) 476-9777, Ext. 203.