Throughout his career Darren Waterston has produced watercolors in tandem with his oil paintings. His fascination with aqueous environments finds full form in subject and medium in his current exhibition at Charles Cowles Gallery. These works emphasize the dichotomy inherent in all of his works: carefree drips and fluid seepings combine with meticulous renderings of vegetation, threaded beads and objects of Waterston’s invention.

Waterston’s fantastical vistas are devoid of true horizon lines and traditional landmarks. His viscous scenes are ambiguous; some verge on anatomical views into a fictional body while others hint at tropical flora of an imaginary locale. Laden with a personal lexicon of spiritual ciphers, Waterston’s imagery has always wavered between benign and uncanny: dreamy worlds of subtle colors are invaded with unknown and vaguely ominous forms. He has an affinity with Romantic landscape; the bounty of its beauty and nurturing qualities are tinged with the portentous side of nature’s indifference.