
Amid the glitz of Chelsea’s “luxury condo” building boom, it’s refreshing to discover Beverly Buchanan’s powerful oil pastel drawings and sculptures of cabins and rural homes. In a back room, a group of 11 small structures constructed from bits of wood, metal, plastic, paint and glue rest on a white plinth. The show, titled “And You May Find Yourself. . . ,” reveals the artist’s interest in architecture of the rural South and her ability to create a sense of place and history. Cedar House with Poplar Base (2009) has a patchwork quality based on the range of wood color, punctuated by a door or window resembling an eye. The drawings depict shacks against multi-colored landscapes. Similar works by the artist were recently included in “When the Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination and the American South,” organized by the Studio Museum in Harlem and recently on view at Boston’s ICA. This exhibition coincides with renewed attention to Buchanan’s minimal cast concrete sculptures from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, the subject of a recently released book by Athénée Press.