From Huffington Post:

There are shows you walk out of, not knowing what you’re going to write. You don’t know what you’re going to write, but you do know you’ll have to figure it out – you’ve promised so-and-so; you’ve promised yourself; it’s a show you really “should” cover. Although they make you a better writer, they wear you down, come often and have you working for days just to come close to what you would have liked to say. But there are also shows you think about, riding the subway home, that fill you with an unmistakable and enduring light — you might not know why exactly, but you know you’ve spent the past couple of hours doing something good and affirming for yourself (and your eyes). These are the shows that make you both a better writer and a happier one.

Samuel Stabler’s A Long Way from Dixie is that kind of show. The kind you feel compelled to write about in your notebook, with a couple stops to go on the C train.

I was introduced to Stabler’s work last spring — my first real studio visit — and I remember feeling filled with a similar light. Gallery 151’s A Long Way from Dixie presents a tighter series of works than I had seen a year ago, but their identity and make-up remains intact. In his neon’s, as they are called, rigorous pen and ink drawings of Old Master paintings (and images that simply appear as old and hallowed) are cast in his trademark neon. Nearly monochromatic, they feature subtle gradations of color, which call our attention to details typically minor or mere in the originals — they also occasionally use a touch of gold, when a detail is particularly irresistible to note. Here’s “Untitled (Neon Floral Still Life)” — gold fly and all.