Raya Bodnarchuk Reviewed in the Washington Post!

“A Family,” the title of Raya Bodnarchuk’s retrospective at Gallery Neptune & Brown, refers not only to the local artist’s artwork, but also to friends, colleagues and the many students she taught for more than 40 years. These cohorts are represented in this show mostly by dogs, cats and other animals that Bodnarchuk (1947-2021) stylized sleekly in metal, wood or paper.

The amiable vibe is similar regardless of the media. “Male Leopard” is a blond-wood totem, partly painted, whose face and body are punctuated by natural splits in the lumber that emphasize the piece’s verticality. “Curled Up Dog” is a nearly round bronze whose canine identity is expressed almost entirely by a pair of protruding ears. One of many elegant collages, “Soya” is a silhouetted dog cut from a sheet of mottled gray paper, placed on a black backdrop and fenced in by two vertical chains of the multicolored triangles that recur in the paper works.

Made between 1968 and 2016, the sculptures and collages illustrate continuity more than evolution. The earliest pieces, made of cast aluminum, are chunkier and less streamlined, but the artist soon found her enduring mode. Whether conjuring creatures from paper or bronze, Bodnarchuk maintained a light touch.