Paul Collins’ Cardinal Shift and Matt Christy’s Muscle Spasm opened at The Red Arrow Gallery back in March, and this one-two punch of loose lines and bold colors was just what Nashville needed after a year of pandemic blahs. Collins’ diaristic documenting of birding that accompanied Nashville’s wintertime blizzards is full of energy and hope. Christy’s oil-pastel transfers offer playful abstractions that buzz with all the pent-up energy many of us felt after an extra-locked-down cold-weather season during the darkest days in the shadow of C-19. The spring art season is one of our favorite times for gallery gawking, and these two artists embodied the thrills of both warming weather and seeing art in person again.
