EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWS

"From Chiapas to Chianti", Troyer Gallery, Washington, DC
"What is it about Phyllis Plattner's most recent paintings, now on view at the Troyer Gallery in From Chiapas to Chianti, that give one pause? Is it because there's something so wrong with them, or something strangely, inexplicably right.
There, against a gilt background and on a panel whose shape echoes a miniature tripartite alterpiece, is a scene of the Annunciation. On the right, as is traditional in religious paintings of the Renaissance, sits the Virgin Mary, awaiting news that she's pregnant. On the left is the archangel Gabriel on bended knee. clutching a spray of white flowers. Above his head where the Holy Spirit would typically float in the guise of a dove is a bird. Rays shoot forth from its beak.
Boiler plate Italianate church art in almost every way, except for the border on the painting's lower edge, which looks suspiciously like Mexican weaving. Oh, yes, that and the fact that the divine messenger and the mother of Jesus are both wearing ski masks and carrying rifles.
Plattner resists interpretations of her work that are too obvious, too literal, or involve a pre-fab concept. To illustrate her fascination with never-ending layers and the impossibility of nailing down meaning, Plattner tells a story about a Zen master and his student. When asked what supports the world. the master answers, "the back of a turtle." "But what is the turtle standing on?" the student wants to know. "Another turtle," answers the wise man. "And that turtle?" asks the persistent student.
"Look," snaps the master --and at this point in the tale Plattner can't help laughing-- "it's turtles all the way down."
- Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, May 31, 2002

"The Impact of Place", SACI Gallery, Florence, Italy
"From Chiapas to the Tuscan countryside, from maize fields to rolling hillsides dotted with olive trees, from the world of peasant farmers tormented by guerrilla warfare to the silence of medieval villages. This is the journey described in the paintings of Phyllis Plattner, the American artist on view at SACI Gallery in Florence. But it is a deeper, more interior voyage that these images reflect, these skillfully rendered charcoal and pastel drawings and oil paintings."
- Paola Bartolotti, Il Corriere di Firenze, July 11, 2000

Artsites 96, Arlington, VA
"Plattner's pieces are not only evidence of superb technical skill, but also deliver that visual and mental satisfaction which a truly creative artist can do without gimmicks or shocks."
- Lennox Campello, Visions, Magazine for the Arts, Washington, DC, July, 1996

"Bare Bones", Gomez Gallery, Baltimore
"Phyllis Plattner starts from mastery of the medium, providing a handsome show, then goes on to probe aspects of the human condition. She deals with how we seek to understand the mystery of life by externalizing it and giving it a physical presence in the form of visual representation. Plattner's drawings, using charcoal graphite and pastel with great skill, render volume, texture, detail, color."
- John Dorsey, The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, March 29, 1995

"Phyllis Plattner's charcoal, pastel and graphite drawings at the Gomez Gallery make their own claim on the symbol-laden prop of bones. Her 'Bare Bones' series is an astute blending of ethnographic subject matter, a pictorial strategy so spare as to seem deserted as a desert, and a technique so fluid that her drawings have a soft, painterly richness to them. Our interpretation of this image serves as a reminder of what lies beneath our socialized selves, and of course, a memento mori to civilizations ranging from the ancient Mayans to today¹s gallery goers."
- Mike Giuliano, City Paper, Baltimore, April 12, 1995

"Mute Witness", Brody's Gallery, Washington, DC
"On a purely visual level, these oil pastels are dynamically composed, larger than life size renderings of areas of statuary. By blowing up details, the artist enables us to perceive the intricacy of surface color. The ochre earthenware figure of 'Mute Witness #16', ostensibly monochromatic, is sensually rounded with a tactile surface made up of the multi-layering of meticulously applied small strokes of vibrant colors, displaying the sculptural beauty of the renderings, and the sensitivity of form and color.
A link to all acts of creation, this figure, along with the others, relates to our own contemporary quests to understand our own transitory existences."
- Carol Falk, Washington Review, December/January, 1993

"When Phyllis Plattner paints it, still life is never still. So successfully does the process work that we ourselves are set in motion backwards toward our own barrier through the looking glass. Though each painting is enlivened by the intelligence of the artist, what she hopes for from us is an oceanic reaction, not an intellectual one. We're complimented by her assurance that we're up to the task of seeing.
A word about Plattner's technique. When Plattner sets off to paint neutrally colored statuary in warm and cool greys it is easy to take her skill for granted for the range of tones she achieves. They are grey, it is true, always grey, but solidly built with countless strokes of color. In fact so loaded with color are they that under close scrutiny their exquisite balance stands poised to precipitate back into its original components. It doesn't but the tension is always there."
- Phyllis Jacobs, Eye Wash, Washington, DC, September, 1992

"Mute Witness", Elliot Smith Gallery, St. Louis
"Phyllis Plattner's recent work exhibited at the Elliot Smith Gallery contains feminist imagery of shocking intensity. Her new works are evidence that this artist can make even everyday objects dramatic and anxiety producing as well. A consummate colorist, she she renders the grayish stone of the idol vivid with purples and greens, its outlines crisp and beautiful against a greasy, glowing red background. It is as if Plattner spent a lifetime developing her artistic skill and self-confidence to come to these current, powerful works."
- New Art Examiner, Chicago, September, 1992

"This earlier work was very, very beautiful -lush and full of light and color- and meticulously painted. Those qualities apply similarly to her most recent work which has as its basis art of the pre-Columbian Americas."
- Robert W. Duffy, St. Louis Post Dispatch, St. Louis, March 15, 1992

"Plattner examines masks as if they were under a microscope equipped with lenses ground for looking at art. Her style of drawing has a quite luscious quality. But from that notable observation you go on --up-- and find yourself contemplating images that symbolize disintegration and fragmentation."
- Robert Duffy, St. Louis Post Dispatch, St. Louis, March, 1992

"Murder in the Kitchen," Brody Gallery, Washington, DC
"Plattner's work recalls and illuminates Rilke's '...beauty's nothing but beginning of terror we're still just able to bear...'. Plattner has stepped with great wit and good humor into a powerfully energizing transformation. This is a big theme- the modesty of the still life genre notwithstanding- it is equal in her skilled hands to its full implications.
On another level these paintings and collages are so well made, so clear and vivid, it's hard to imagine anyone actually laboring to produce them, yet there they are, oil pastel colors laid on stroke by juicy stroke, building their illusion of solid mass out of flatness."
- Phyllis Jacobs, Eye Wash, Washington, DC, April 1991

"Call the work "Murder in the Kitchen" and you have some idea of what Phyllis Plattner's art is all about- a successful mix of Abstract Expressionist markings, photographic detain, and just a dash of film noir to make the work unnerving. At first glance the work is disturbing, not so much because it zeroes in on fleshy fruits being ripped asunder, but because it is so startlingly new. The sensation of viewing the work is of time stopped. The more recent pieces, however, are crisp, relentless and without a heavily worked background to confuse the issue. Viewers will be excited by the superior draftsmanship in the work, seduced by its lush images and disturbed by its violence."
- Mary Gabriel, Museum and Arts Washington, Washington, DC April, 1991

"Momentary Glimpses", B.Z. Wagman Gallery, St. Louis
"An exquisite exhibition of paintings in oil pastel by Phyllis Plattner is underway at the B.Z. Wagman Gallery. Viewing the paintings from across the room, you feel a smooth, reflective surface in the images. Upon closer inspection, you see the excitement, the calligraphic stroking of the medium on the paper. These new works by Plattner seem to exhibit an even more painterly quality than her former oil paintings. Viewing "Out of Darkness" is a breathtaking, almost religious experience for the viewer."
- Betsy Goldman, West End Word, St. Louis, November 11, 1986

³Currents #23", St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis
"Phyllis Plattner depicts the luscious surface of appearances. Her two highly representational images of jungle plants, bigger than life-sized and penetrated by color and light, seem to place the viewer right inside the most beautiful tropical forest ever."
- Carol Ferring Shepley, The St. Louis Post Dispatch, St. Louis, September 15, 1984

"Plattner's watercolors have always been fresh and precise, but grow increasingly more complex, large and masterful. A Phyllis Plattner watercolor is remarkable in many ways: the lushness of the color and the translucency and freshness of the surface indicate a keen eye and skilled hand. Operating under a strict realist sensibility, Plattner records certain ephemeral qualities of light, with powerful perceptual awareness and convincing immediacy of the subject. Always lush, lyrical and powerful, Plattner's watercolors are only more engrossing with the curved presentation and increased size. This show should be experienced."
- Kim Ferger,West End Word, St. Louis, April 6, 1984