Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Clark Derbes

In an exhibit titled “A Family Gathering,” one might expect portraits of people. Instead, the prolific Burlington artist gives us an inventive collection of sculptures and wall-hung geometric paintings on wood. Three-dimensional shapes, carved from solid pieces of wood and painted in cheerful hues, rest on rough wooden trunks or other pedestals throughout the first-floor gallery space at Jager Di Paolo Kemp Design in Burlington. Some are arranged together, like humans socializing; others stand alone. It’s amusing to imagine characters and personalities for these sculptures, but they “work” just fine without that conceit. Downstairs, Derbes distills his more familiar line-drawn murals into curvy 2-D shapes with colorful fat stripes in ink and gouache. This intriguing show would, in fact, appeal to the whole family. It’s on view through March 26.