Land of many colors

“The Joy of Summer” by Marlene Kidd, acrylic on canvas, 2008.

“The Joy of Summer” by Marlene Kidd, acrylic on canvas, 2008.

Grandma Moses died in 1961, but if she had a psychedelic phase, maybe it would have resembled Marlene Kidd’s vivid landscape paintings. Kidd’s work is chock-full of jagged hillsides; prominent, unusually hued trees; and little buildings and automobiles inconspicuously placed in the kaleidoscopic ridges. She embellishes the tiers of land with strings of dots, which give this folk art a quiltlike feeling, with the added bonus that no LSD is necessary to appreciate her work.