Art Exhibit

Orlando Gallery--Marla Fields shows work reflecting very different passions in her show “The Current Within.” Within the broader sweep of her mostly abstract forms, Fields adds fine details on handmade paper that gives a plaster-like surface to the works. One of her efforts, “Dance of Opposition,” is shown above.

Her swirling imagery refers, obliquely, to the figure and also to the contours of nature, without ever getting literal. We see bones and tree limbs, passions of a sensuous sort and wind-swept vistas, depending on our mood.

In Roger Doucette’s show of water media works, also at the gallery, deceptive calm is the order of things, under the fitting title “Caught Between Screams of Passion.” On the surface, all is mild. The paintings convey airiness and fluidity, and the compositions are symmetrical and balanced. Doucette’s subject matter is another matter. He depicts passions of the carnal sort, mixed freely with allusions to religious art--for example, crucifix imagery and the triptych form common to religious art. Surfing, apparently another passion for the artist, also creeps into the visual mix, which brings it all together contextually: Surfer art tends to be flowing and flippant.

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Marla Fields and Roger Doucette, through March 28 at Orlando Gallery, 14553 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. Gallery hours: Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; (818) 789-6012.