In Brief: Formation Proposal by Susan Meyer at Lake George Arts Project

Detail view of Shaft, laser cut acrylic, H-O scale figures, and aluminum

Several times now I've seen one or two of Susan Meyer's tiny, fantastical utopias and, every time, they fascinate. So I couldn't bear to miss her solo show Formation Proposal at the Lake George Arts Project's Courthouse Gallery, in Lake George Village, which is on view only until April 15.

Meyer uses brightly colored acrylic sheets to build complex little spaces that are populated in this show by miniature nude figures. Her sense of color and form is outstanding, and she fully exploits the way light penetrates these stacks of stripes.

Susan Meyer - Shaft

Though dates were not provided for the pieces on view, they seem fresh - especially the central piece - titled Together - which is more airy than dense, with a limited palette of white, yellow and blue, and is suspended from the ceiling, so it floats as if in zero-gravity. As one gallery-goer commented during my visit, it looks like The Jetsons (a detail of it is shown at the bottom of this post). There's a playfulness here not completely opposed to that favorite 1960s cartoon - but there is also a slightly ominous dystopian feeling to the worlds Meyer creates, adding to their mystique.

A much smaller piece in the show, shaped like a rough gem, glows from the sunlight that pours in from a window right behind it (with the lake beyond). Titled Shelter Rock, it incorporates a full range of colors (as does Shaft, shown at right), but is dominated by yellow. Meyer variously uses opaque, translucent, and transparent acrylic - in Shelter Rock, the way transparent acrylic catches light and projects it from the edge is maximized.

Two other smaller pieces, titled Swimming Hole (blue) and Swimming Hole (orange), are mirror images of each other, yet appear almost completely different due to the choice of colors. Part of the fun of these simpler works is to see just how many colors (in fact, the whole rainbow) Meyer will use to make a sculpture that can still honestly be called orange.

If you can, see this show before it ends - if not, keep an eye out for Susan Meyer's work wherever it may pop up. She's definitely on to something.

Susan Meyer - detail view of Together, laser cut acrylic and H-O scale figures