"Bodyprints"

Terre Rybovich really takes the saying ¨Put yourself into your work¨ literally. ¨Bodyprints¨ are exactly that: drawings made with the artist´s naked body. You don´t get much more personal than that. Known previously for her sculptural work, the Lantana artist was one day inspired to cover a piece of paper with charcoal and then lie down on the job -- a method that was facilitated by having the flu. What began as an experiment evolved into a process. After imprinting the paper with her body -- either by lying on it, marching on it, or otherwise pressing against it -- the artist reflects on the marks left behind and allows images to come to mind. The body prints, then, are a sort of creative springboard for Rybovich, who then returns to the paper, charcoal in hand, to fill in the images she´s imagined. For instance, Untitled 11 was created by erasing the body prints and inverting the paper. It was then that the artist recognized a partial view of a little girl´s party dress, which Rybovich flourished with streaks of blue pastel. Most works, all untitled, are created with a process that´s as additive as it is subtractive. In many, the artist removes charcoal when she lies down on the paper, but in one, Untitled 7, the artist fixed the charcoal where she lay by oiling her body, allowing the charcoal to seep into the paper´s fiber so that when she rubbed it with a chamois, the imprint was all that remained. Of course, of the baker´s dozen, most are large scale -- more than six feet tall -- in order to accommodate the artist´s height. The smaller square Untitled 13 required a smaller imprint, so the artist sat in each corner. Whether the process intrigues or disgusts is up to the viewers, who can study their reactions in the two sculptural mirrors also on display. (Through June 30 at Red Dot Contemporary Gallery, 3508 S. Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach. Call 561-838-4348.) -- Marya Summers

NOW SHOWING

¨His work is so mature for an artist his age,¨ gallery owner and director Donna Tribby effused at the recent opening of ¨Matt Godwin: Spring Paintings.¨ Just a year after graduating from Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach in 2006, the 19-year-old artist calls Boston home, now that ¨a wise art investor traded for studio space there,¨ Tribby said. Artist´s age aside, the paintings attest to an active, unsettled, and cynical mind that is reflected in both style and subject. For instance, Acne Abstraction captures the ugliness and pain of the angry pustules, and the condition´s persistence is reflected in serial breakouts, three of which are displayed. Another series, Acidic Painting on Acid Free Paper, demonstrates the artist´s sardonic wit. Lucy´s Hard Work Paid Off, in fact, uses the Peanuts´ smug know-it-all to take a jab at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Another of the series, simply titled Turkey, illustrates not only the artist´s intellect but also a style that is equal parts studied and spontaneous, deliberate yet sincere. While only 14 works are hung in the small Antique Row gallery space, almost as many more are on hand. If you want, you can get a preview at mattgodwin.org, where the talented, prolific, and savvy artist has cataloged images of all of his work. (Through July 4 at Donna Tribby Fine Art, 3506 S. Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach. Call 561-833-4001.)