Bettina Sellmann’s The Clearing (2008).Courtesy of Derek Eller Gallery
For Artist Bettina Sellmann, the Woods Are Lovely, Dark and Deep
As you’re venturing through one of the more densely wooded patches of Central Park — say, in the West Seventies — you come to a clearing and are confronted by an apparition: two beautiful women in exotic finery (very little of it in one case) kneel before a floating spirit. Transfixed, you watch the séance, trying your best to stay hidden — until … So goes only one of the countless possible fairy tales that can unspool after looking at the watercolor-on-canvas paintings of Brooklyn-based Bettina Sellmann. See this particular reverie-inducer at Derek Eller Gallery through August 15. —Andrew M. Goldstein