Laura Craig McNellis: Untitled, tempera on paper, 21 by 28½ inches. Courtesy Ricco Maresca, New York
It has been thirty years since Ricco Maresca first exhibited the work of Nashville-based artist Laura Craig McNellis. A new exhibition titled “Structures” gathers twenty tempera paintings on newsprint. A yellow sun with spiky rays and circular clouds appear at the top of many of the paintings, while letters often sprawl across the bottom. In the space between, McNellis paints rectangular buildings, cottages, and landscapes pared down to their basic geometries, delineated with a thick black outline that recalls the brushwork of Philip Guston. The artist, who was born in 1957, is developmentally disabled and illiterate. Through art she describes the richness of her world. —Lindsay Pollock
