Several Fine Painters in One

KK Kozik is an accomplished painter. She is also problematic. At Kozik’s new show at Kent’s Ober Gallery, she moves between styles so often that you think you are viewing work from at least two, maybe three, different painters.

There is the surrealist Kozik, best seen in “Spot.” The large oil on linen shows an ultra-modern, two-story-home interior. A woman is carrying a tureen of food to a table set for two — the plates are side by side — while a big moon dominates the upper portion of the picture. A flat-blue sky is seen through odd window openings, including a demilune. The painting is mysterious, a bit haunted.

Then there is the Kozik who is a master of light and color. “Mirror Lake” is a bright picture of a dense stand of trees reflected in shimmering water. In “Causeway,” an old-fashioned, arched stone bridge lies above placid water that meanders into the distance. The picture feels almost English in its pastoral celebration of calm nature.

Yet another Kozik painter in “Albers Interior,” a carefully composed picture of parts of three rooms — a sort of enfilade — with light switches in each room aligned in a perfect diagonal. Part of an illustration of a figure lying in the curve of a crescent moon is up high on the wall of the first room. Colors are warm, homey; even an Oriental rug in the far room is inviting. (The title refers to Josef Albers, who revolutionized artists’ understanding with his influential theory of color and how it is visualized.)

This same Kozik painted the small “House on the Hill,” with its titular house seen above the outer walls of two neighboring houses that dominate the front of the picture plane. All are rendered in a peculiar grayish-purple color, mysterious and serene.

KK Kozik: Landscapes and Interiors continues at Ober Gallery, 14 Old Barn Road in Kent, CT, through July 10. The gallery is open Friday to Sunday. Call 860-927-5030 or go to www.obergallery.com.