Review: Lecia Dole-Recio at Richard Telles Fine Art

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Once upon a time, color and line were thought to be opposing elements in painting’s language, and never the twain would meet. But Lecia Dole-Recio continues to put them in eloquent conversation with one another, in six new paintings and five works on paper at Richard Telles Fine Art.

In the paintings, colored lines vary in width, until it’s impossible to tell the difference between a line and a shape. Dole-Recio piles them up or spreads them out in various ways — as undulating waves or pickup sticks — the silvery red or blue color opening up translucent layers of light-filled space.

By contrast, the collages, made from cut paper and corrugated cardboard, turn shape into form. The edges are painted, like Mercurochrome applied to a wound. Dense labyrinths create the illusion of deep if impenetrable inner worlds.

Unlike the muscular lyricism of her small but fine solo show of mixed-media paintings and collages at the Museum of Contemporary Art two years ago, these modest works are contemplative, elegant and refined. They feel completely self-assured and perhaps mark a subtle shift.

-- Christopher Knight

Richard Telles Fine Art, 7380 Beverly Blvd., L.A., (323) 965-5578, through Feb. 7. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

Above: Lecia Dole-Recio’s ‘Untitled (rd.slvr.lns.cnvs.)’ (2008), acrylic, spray paint on canvas. Credit: Fredrik Nilsen