'Pink Dress,' a painting by artist Jean-Francois Landeau, on view at LibertyTown Arts Workshop, concentrates on the female figure. Visit the Photo Place

Artist uses color, lines to create subtle works

Jean-Francois Landeau's "Works on Paper" opens tomorrow night at LibertyTown Arts Workshop in Fredericksburg

Date published: 7/6/2006

By DAVE SMALLEY

The woman wears a soft summer dress, with a delicate string of pearls draped around her exquisite neck. It's the kind of neck and collarbone that men dream about, the kind that launches ships, or wars.

Even better, she's getting onto a Vespa--the coolest, most suave Italian motor scooter ever (with apologies to fans of Lambretta). It's Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday" done one better. You could fall in love with a woman like this.

But you can't see her face. This is one of the trademarks of a series of works by Jean-Francois Landeau.

Landeau's show, benignly named "Works on Paper," opens tomorrow night at LibertyTown Arts Workshop. Without resorting to hype, it's highly recommended. What the "Vespa" painting does for the imagination, so, too, do most of the large (24-by-36) studies of the human form in various ensembles.

One particularly nice work is the figure of a biker, cigarette smoke lazily drifting up, chrome and leather and white T-shirt marking a sort of timeless homage to rebellion.

Indeed, while this is certainly no retro-Americana appreciation show, there is in this Frenchman's paintings the occasional tip of the hat to a melding of fashion and the icon. Perhaps it's the eternal respect of the French for American pop culture.

Whatever the inspiration, it works.

One faceless figure wears a long raincoat, London Fog/Humphrey Bogart style. The lines, like all of Landeau's work, are a nice mix of fine and thick, and the color a combo meal of the bold and the delicate.

A series within the series, with pieces titled simply "Yellow Dress," "Pink Dress" and the like, reminds us of the unmatchable pairing of feminine form and the simple aesthetic of fabric worn simply and confidently.

Landeau's work goes beyond portrayals of figure, though. He also has a series of small, finely detailed pen and ink geometric drawings, intricate studies of lines that he calls his "Jet Lag" series. Each has four lines per 2-millimeter square, and lots of those squares put together make for an approach at once different and compelling.

WHAT: 'Works on Paper,' paintings by Jean-Francois Landeau WHEN: The exhibit runs through July. A First Friday opening reception will take place tomorrow, 5-9 p.m. WHERE: LibertyTown Arts Workshop, 916 Liberty St., Fredericksburg COST: Free INFO: 540/371-7255

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Date published: 7/6/2006