Murky puzzle

Through the haziness and dim earth tones, there's a figure as naked as the landscape he's standing in. And then there's the presence of a child's toy or circus appurtenance and a disembodied head, and the viewer decides he or she must be peering through the darkness into someone's id. The paintings of Avery Palmer are rife with symbolism and melancholic countenances, and indeed, they are surreal. In addition to his narratives on canvas, Palmer takes his vulnerable figures flawlessly into the third dimension, and his ceramic sculptures, like his paintings, harken to the classics of hundreds of years ago, but with more grit and quirk. His work spells out a frangible enigma, and it's one murky puzzle that's beautiful to try and decipher.