Page 3.14

If you're thinking about pollen much and you're not a farmer or a beekeeper, chances are you probably suffer from wicked seasonal allergies. Then again, you could be an artist.

Kysa Johnson, a painter whose work explores microcosmic and macrocosmic natural phenomena, opens a show this weekend at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The paintings depict magnified versions of the tiny particles that populate the air around the museum.

The opening reception for "Kysa Johnson: Blow Ups--Spores, Pollen, and Pollutants" will be held on Sunday, March 11 from 3 to 5pm; the show runs through June 10, 2007.

From the Museum's website:

Kysa Johnson's artwork affords a new appreciation for the physical world--including "flying foes" or natural pollutants, such as pollen and other toxins. Johnson's images give the impression of what might be seen if a sample of the air around us was magnified for examination. The director of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Harry Philbrick, has invited the New York-based artist to create an exhibition that will feature a collection of landscape-inspired works this winter, entitled Blow Ups--Spores, Pollen, and Pollutants. The exhibition will open with a reception on March 11 and continue through June 10, 2007. The reception will be held at The Aldrich, located at 258 Main Street, Ridgefield, Connecticut, from 3 to 5 pm.

New Yorkers looking for an early- spring day trip can call the Aldrich at 203.438.4519 to arrange transportation to and from the opening. Claritin is, of course, optional.

Image: Kysa Johnson installing blow up 73—the spores of white oak, pine, american elm, and red maple at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. Courtesy of Stephen Needham.