Barely There

On the face of it, Julie Dahl-Nicolle’s large, intriguing drawings on exhibit at the Buenaventura Gallery are just solidly rendered nude studies, with a few twists. Female figures appear in strange surroundings, often in contorted positions that suggest an effort to adapt to the landscapes.

In “From Here to There,” the figure arches over, echoing the arched passageway behind her, and in “The Bone Collector,” a woman crouches while spreading her arms, as if mimicking a bird or animal, with a pile of bones beside her in a ritualistic display.

Something is awry here. A nude is not just a nude, but a vehicle toward some mysterious scheme.

The two-color pieces in the gallery are, by comparison, smallish and clear of purpose: In self-portraits of the artist, his eyes seem to be gazing away, searching and content at the same time. This persona can be found in every piece, all linked to the thematic notion inherent in the show’s title: “Once There Was and Once There Was Not,” taken from Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ “Women Who Run With Wolves.”

The core idea has to do with the necessary ambiguity of spinning tales, and art in general. Artifice and truth dance around each other, complementing and tricking each other on the road to expression. This is art with a vague, narrative parallel reality.

The artist’s blending of conventional figures and bizarre settings can be as playful as it is provocative. “Learning to Fly” finds our subject nude and twisted up in a chicken yard, bonding with the grounded poultry. “Bird on My Shoulder” depicts a figure as host to a bird, liberated from its cage, an open, natural landscape behind them.

The piece bearing the title of the show is, at once, more traditional and also more enigmatic, and, fittingly, it is tucked away in the gallery’s hidden nook. In this smaller charcoal-on-wood image, a figure is seen from the chest up, eyes closed, apparently a static, meditative person in a woodsy terrain.

Throughout the show, Dahl-Nicolle shows an impressive drawing skill, and a good sense of how much finish to apply to a scene without sacrificing its raw charm. These are essentially individualistic nude studies, with telling props and an investigative spirit.

ELSEWHERE DEPARTMENT: Meanwhile, in the outer gallery, where a rotating selection of art by members of the Buenaventura Art Assn. hangs, several pieces jump out of the heap. Various nods and winks toward icons of art history pop up around many of this sampling of works, and who’s complaining?

Addressing that very issue of the persistence of art history’s influence over contemporary artists, Betty Buckner’s vividly colored tabletop still-life bears the telling title “How Would Matisse Do It?” Howard Quam’s kinetic abstraction, “Time Out,” has some quality of syncopated rhythm that reminds us of Stuart Davis. And Edward Hopper’s appreciation of beautifully lonely structures blanketed by oblique sunlight comes through with Roseanne Burke’s watercolor “Heceta House.”

Light is the hero, again, in Paula Odor’s “Sunset,” depicting beachfront trees in waning daylight, evoking a dark, bittersweet air. By contrast, Charlotte Olonoff’s diptych “Ventura I,” is all about clouds, and they show up here as elusive forms and universal, nonsectarian symbols of hope.

DETAILS: Julie Dahl-Nicolle, through Jan. 30 at Buenaventura Gallery, 700 E. Santa Clara St., in Ventura. Gallery hours: 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday; 648-1235.