Patricia Rosoff

The Hartford Advocate

“Ilse Gordon records landscapes with an eye for texture, stitching views with a thousand hummingbird strokes. Her images are trembling surfaces, like needlework of the utmost complexity. What would seam traditional, however, is subverted by a surprisingly tough sense of structure and a sense of humor. In “Winter Kale,” Gordon’s garden plots seem more like a parade ground. Blocks of vegetables are aligned like corps of soldiers receding in perspective echelons as far as the eye can see, while overhead the sky is ribboned, like so many banners waving.

It is in her touch that Gordon’s style is most distinctive. She reaches past the surface to a deeper, almost molecular reality. Consequently, though her works are the most dense, the most richly colored, the most closely observed. Gordon’s works are also most atmospheric.”

Winter Kale, Oil, 28 x 36”