New galleries, new faces, new shows. Lancaster’s First Friday drew a big crowd last night, and, as always, there was far more than one person could take in on a single evening, and I’ll have more to write on Monday.
I started out a little off the beaten path, over at the Keystone Art & Culture Center, 420 Pearl St. The show actually opened last week; center director George Mummert has moved show openings to the fourth Friday of the month, but is open for 
First Friday.
The spacious gallery (once a grocery store) which also serves as a studio for metal work, is currently showing the paintings of Robin Walker, an artist from Arlington, Va. In her paintings, an abstract-expressionist style meets recognizable graphic images, rendered in rich colors and complex brushwork. In order to reflect a range of experience rather than one single emotion, “I ‘destroy’ a canvas by painterly gesture and welcomed accidents, then rescue it with more controlled marks later on,” Walker writes in her artist’s statement.
This approach, combined with the large scale of many of the works, gives mundane images (”Socket,” “Barcode,” “Three Figures,” “The Camera” are some of her titles) a sort of monumentality. Shown here (in casual snapshots) are “The Arch” (left) and “The Map” (right).
Read Robin Walker’s artist’s statement here.
Also on display in the gallery are some works by Kenyan artist Ken Firi: precisely rendered, minutely detailed portraits painted on stretched goatskins. A larger exhibit of African art is planned for the gallery next year, along with dancing and music.
