A Free Hand

Gerd Koch is one of those artists who has always respected the power of painting, whatever the winds of artistic fashion. He can be allusive, fluid and visceral, moving in and out of abstraction, all on the same canvas.

We get a concentrated dose of Koch’s aesthetic in his current mini-retrospective--too mini, really--with works from 1953-1998 in the 3rd Floor Gallery at City Hall. Humble though the sampling is in scope, it offers a glimpse of the artist’s painterly voice, one that manages to touch on classical antiquity, mythology, Abstract Expressionism and landscape painting, without getting diffuse in the process.

The secret lies in Koch’s assured way with flinging paint and balancing the elements of his compositions. In paintings such as “Sacred Spring” and “Looking for Apollo,” Koch wields a free, sometimes explosive palette--warm and turbulent.

Areas of density and knotty brushwork are aired out by cooler patches, as abstract energies interact with mythological characters or recognizable scenes of nature.

In the ‘90s, Koch’s work has found a natural, flowing maturity, with freshness intact. 1997’s “Sunlit Grove” is a small but inviting piece, depicting the scene of the title but infused with ambiguous intensity. Koch is keeping the painting faith. It shows in his work, past and present.

Good Views: It’s a funky space, off the beaten path. It has concrete floors, a distinct lack of polish or even basic amenities, and it offers a sense of things thrown into place. One recent rainy day it was closed due to leaks.

But, that said, the 3rd Floor Gallery in City Hall is one of the finest art spaces around, with a stunning view, ample space and an all-important quality of being detached from the thrum of everyday reality. What else could one ask for from an art gallery?

The current group show there, connected with the Ventura Chamber Music Festival, serves as an exhibition with little rhyme or reason, other than as a potpourri of locally generated art.

In the varied terrain of photography, Charles Peloso’s “Norma” is a dreamy nude study, reminiscent of Jerry Uelsmann’s darkroom-aided surrealism. William Hendricks, with ideas and pristine craftsmanship tucked up his sleeve, shows stylized baby pictures in rustic metal frames.

We also find Stephen Schafer’s sentient images from the Far East, from a shot of a Japanese garden path to an image of students’ cellos lined up in a Shanghai classroom--as if stand-ins for the students.

In painting, Shirley Ransom’s “Persimmons on Line” depicts succulent reddish-orange orbs aligned to create a strong visual rhythm. Local color appears in refreshing ways. In Ruth Hartman’s whimsical painting “City Fathers,” a stodgy bald man’s rounded, fleshy face is a counterpoint to the jolly friar, tucked into the City Hall architecture. Katherine McGuire’s watercolor savvy is at work in “Poli St. XI,” with its palm trees standing taller than laws of physics should allow. And Nero B. Bicarme revisits the oft-painted Topatopa Mountains in “Ojai Springtime,” a depiction of the mountains in a pink mood but with an abstractionist’s touch.

In a way, this painting makes a loose reference to Koch’s work in the gallery’s other section. The underlying message: Nature and abstraction are not as disparate as rumor might have it.

BE THERE

* Gerd Koch, Ventura Chamber Music Festival Biennial Art Competition, 3rd Floor Gallery, Ventura City Hall, 500 Poli St., Ventura. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.