West Marin artist Toni Littlejohn’s “In Earth’s Embrace” runs through Jan. 10 at Continuum Fine Art in Point Reyes Station. (Courtesy of Toni Littlejohn)
Charles Anselmo’s latest solo show, “Memoria Eidética,” features images he took in Cuba. (Photo by Charles Anselmo)
“Fire Under Ice” by Toni Littlejohn. (Courtesy of Toni Littlejohn)
Charles Anselmo’s “Memoria Eidética” runs through Jan. 10 at his West Marin gallery. (Photo by Charles Anselmo)
“Coalescence” by Toni Littlejohn. (Courtesy of Toni Littlejohn)
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West Marin artist Toni Littlejohn’s “In Earth’s Embrace” runs through Jan. 10 at Continuum Fine Art in Point Reyes Station. (Courtesy of Toni Littlejohn)
The most beautiful art gallery you may ever visit opened with little fanfare this past September in Point Reyes Station: Continuum Fine Art, an enterprise owned and operated by painter-turned-photographer Charles Anselmo.
Tucked away between Gallery Route One and Cafe Reyes, Continuum Fine Art is a multi-layered surprise, from its innocuous street exposure to its enormous interior space, with a high vaulted ceiling, soft padded floor, superb acoustics and ivory-colored walls that support artworks of unimaginable quality.
The space was developed over many years by Russell Chatham, an artist and author who died in 2019 in West Marin before he could open it as a commercial gallery. Anselmo has extended Chatham’s vision, now fully realized in a stunning exhibit of his own photography and bright monumental paintings by West Marin artist Toni Littlejohn.
The two artists couldn’t be more different or more compatible. Entering the gallery, along the right side and the back wall are Littlejohn’s huge glorious paintings, a series she calls “In Earth’s Embrace,” for their evocation of the violent fecundity of our home planet. The opposite wall is festooned with “Memoria Eidética,” Anselmo’s large-format photos of Cuba, the island nation he has visited 80 times. Multiple layers of peeling paint, crumbling structures, collapsing walls and abandoned offices all combine to present a heartbreaking image of a country in decay. You can almost feel the tropical heat and humidity. With Littlejohn’s paintings, you can feel the beauteous upheaval of the earth.
The juxtaposition of very unlike works is arresting: Littlejohn’s celebratory depictions of the stormy Earth and the heavens above it, and Anselmo’s homage to decay. They engage perfectly as an encompassing alpha-and-omega interpretation of life. The emotional range in this twin exhibit is astounding, as are the artists’ aesthetic sensitivities and sheer mastery of their respective mediums.
Separating the expanse in Continuum Fine Art are Anselmo’s free-hanging diaphanous silk fabric panels, each printed with delicate patterns like the veins of flowering plants. These panels move slowly with slight air currents, echoing works such as Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “The Gates” that delighted and amazed visitors to New York’s Central Park several years ago.
Continuum Fine Art has emerged as a world-class gallery. The website is still in development, but you can reach Littlejohn or Anselmo to arrange a tour. The current exhibit was slated to close in October but has been extended to Jan. 10.
If you go
What: Toni Littlejohn’s “In Earth’s Embrace” and Charles Anselmo’s “Memoria Eidética”
Where: Continuum Fine Art, 11101 Highway 1, suite 109, Point Reyes Station
When: Through Jan. 10; noon to 5 p.m. Fridays through Sundays
Contact: Email Littlejohn at littlejohn.art@gmail.com and Anselmo at continuumfineart@gmail.com