COLL , whose floral watercolors, at Montserrat Gallery, 584 Broadway, through October 14, are all the more remarkable for their breathtaking realism.

Painting a successful floral arrangement in the difficult medium of watercolor, while maintaining the dewy delicacy that gives it life, is a task requiring the trance-like concentration of a Zen master. To mantain such concentration , producing an image of seamless beauty, freshness and sponteaneity, is a phenomenon as mysterious as the sound of one hand clapping. 

COLL sparkling watercolors are marked by a stunning economy that captures the transitory quality of all organic life, raising philosophical issues, as well asaesthetic ones. With luminous washes of color, they evoke the mortal flower, often sorrounded by paler hues that seem to suggest its spiritual aura. Always, the floral image is suspended within an expanse of white paper whose perfect purity enhances its exquisite fragility.

The harmonious placement of each bouquet or separately blooming bud on this spacious fiel of airy whiteness results in compositions of an almost hypnotic power, favorably comparable to the masterpiece of classical Chinese flower painting. Apart from COLL few Western artists have capturated the fleeting intimations of mortality that flowers suggest to the thoughtful consciousness with such poignant simplicity and grace.

In some of these untitled watercolors we see a single flower poised with great dignity in the center of the composition. Particularly lovely is one brilliant red rose supported by a sinuous, thorny stem, its scarlet brilliance boldly upstaging the more translucent green tonalities of its shapely leaves. Here, one is stirred by the brave beauty of the singular bud, glowing votively, like an offering in tribute to the eternal mysteries of the human heart, whose visceral likeness is metaphorically suggested by its shape. Other paintings by COLL focus on delicate grouping of multi-colored wild flowers, gathered together in bright bouquets. These glorious, yet humble, garlands express the reverence with which we sacrifice plucked flowers to convey emotions and sentiments for wich words will not suffice.

With great skill and sensitivity, COLL imbue his splendidly composed floral watercolors with a host of symbolic meanings whose combined effect constitutes a veritable Valentine to the life force. The fact that they create these seamless statements together suggest an almost supernatural aesthetic symbiosis, lending their imagery even greater mystery and power.

ARTSPEAK, New York    writed by Claude LeSuer