ART REVIEW : Hardwicke’s Flotilla of Tiny, Cryptic Messages

Each of Irene Hardwicke’s lovingly crafted, modestly scaled paintings at Robert Berman Gallery has the presence of a message-in-a-bottle. The New York-based artist’s 23 pictures, painted on old castoff wooden objects, form a lovely flotilla of intentionally mixed messages.

Most of Hardwicke’s oils depict a nude woman or two in various imaginary landscapes, jampacked with beautiful birds, exotic insects and all manner of furry creatures. Like a children’s storybook in which realism freely mutates into fantasy, these images mix fact with fiction as they include extreme alterations in scale, sudden stylistic shifts and an abundance of wacky details--such as a pretty girl with a dog’s body or wild hairdos forming labyrinthine braids and elaborate twig cages.

The oddest aspect of Hardwicke’s paintings, however, is the tiny writing that covers a good portion of their surfaces. Meticulously printed in neat brush strokes, these words tell tales that range from quasi-scientific information to personal confessions, and from intimate inquiries about viewers’ experiences to benign advice about catching bugs or dealing with men.

The hours of devotion Hardwicke lavished on her paintings is hinted at in the time it takes to read them. As you progress, it becomes clear that she is hardly interested in being rescued from the isolation her studio provides. Hardwicke prefers to send out cryptic messages that lead viewers not back to her, but more deeply into her enigmatic pictures.

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Robert Berman Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 315-9506, through April 23. Closed Sundays and Mondays.