by Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The National Midyear exhibition at the Butler Institute of Art is a classic exercise in artistic comfort food.
It’s a juried, annual exhibition that draws entries from all fifty states and that attracts artists of a conservative bent, working in traditional media with traditional subjects.
That’s just as true today of the 77th version of the show, now on view at the Butler through Sunday, Aug. 18, as it has been in the past.
This year’s Midyear won’t challenge, thrill or disorient, but it will give pleasure. And that latter point is especially true of the entries from Northeast Ohio. For the most part, they consist of new works by some of the region’s best artists.
Particularly outstanding are a pair of still lifes by Carol Stewart of Bexley, which evoke a kind of mesmerizing, low-grade ecstasy of being surrounded by familiar objects. She paints glassware and crockery on tables that seem to have been tilted up slightly toward the viewer, emphasizing the flatness of the picture plane.