Art review: Taking solace from ‘Solitude’

The arrival of winter is greeted with glee and dread, maybe like some people are reacting to the entry of 3I/ATLAS in our solar system: Relief? Curiosity? Disappointment?

But feelings at the advent of winter is less about dropping temperatures and the absence or presence of precipitation than isolation and mood – retreating to comfort and enduring the season’s lack of light – and that makes the “Necessity of Art” more than clever marketing.

“Solitude: The Necessity of Art” – ending at the Peoria Riverfront Museum Dec. 7 – may be initially known for single pieces by Grant Wood and Andy Warhol, but the multi-disciplinary, expansive exhibit kindles appreciation and a sense of imminent warmth beyond thermometers.

Especially noteworthy are three landscapes by Neil Welliver and distinctive works by Alfred Conteh glimpsing the life and liveliness of the African American experience in Peoria.

Warhol’s “Hammer and Sickle,” based on graffiti in Italy, seems like an interesting outlier here, and Wood’s “American Golfer” is an amusing take on both, showing an ill-dressed professional man on a background of muted countryside.

As for Welliver, his “Autumn Blueberry Barren” juxtaposes a rocky, if not unforgiving, point with a cool sky; “Frozen Spring” is a stark painting of rural Maine in grays and blues; and “Snow on Alden Brook” somehow exudes celebration in a sparkling monochrome.

Conteh offers a thoughtful intersection of media and perspective, subtitled “Our Great Inheritance” (thankfully part of the museum’s permanent collection).

The array in “Solitude” ranges from Susie J. Lee’s playful video portraits; realist George Wesley Bellows’ “Return of the Useless” (a cold – ominously timely – depiction of inhuman treatment of returning survivors from World War I labor camps); Helen Frankenthaler’s chilling, if not icy “Contentment Island”; and Peter Glenn Oakley’s “Sewing Machine,” an impressive marble sculpture on a granite base that’s somewhat odd and completely charming.

Presented with help from the Art Bridges Foundation and art loaned by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., the exhibit is highly recommended to see before the light dims.