‘Love’ offers its many colors at Elements Gallery show in Rockland

“Love,” a group show at Elements Gallery, 313 Main St., Rockland, through June 9.

Love is: a) a many splendored thing; b) zero in tennis; c) on exhibit in Rockland; d) all of the above.

The answer is d) all of the above, but the most interesting choice is c) the new group show at Elements Gallery, which provides striking variations on the theme “Love.”

Of course, there’s a heart painting, but it’s neither cliche nor sappy. In Stevan Hall’s “Love Hurts,” a fissured pink heart radiates like the sun against a pale lavender sky. Jagged pieces of glass and a heart-shaped rock stick out from the surface of the encaustic (wax mixed with pigment, heated and painted on a board), revealing splinters of the wooden framework below. Ouch.

Sandy Olson depicts the struggles of love through images of thumb wrestling. Chubby, almost abstract fingers metaphorically wrangle on the small panels that make up her “Love Poem Series.” Marilyn Janovitz’s assemblage, “Protecting My Heart,” is a bit more literal, with a model human heart made of clay and tubes surrounded with barbed wire. The words “right ventricle” and “left ventricle” are written in alphabet macaroni embedded in the heart.

Nancy Romines’ works will make you look twice. In “A Year Without Sperm,” 12 eggs wrapped in black cotton are arranged like a clock face against a white background. In “Peachy,” a sensuous plastic peach with a pearl in its navel is cradled in a small, twisted pink hammock, and “Hot Tamale” has a plastic chili pepper wrapped in a maroon knit sheath. Safety is key here.

Many of the works in the show are a curious mix of invitation and warning – come closer, but not too close. Here is my heart; don’t break it. Some of the artists throw caution to the wind, however, and jump into the game.

Carol Bass offers two sculptures of tree branches and twisted vines, assembled like teepees and painted in stripes, vibrant yellows and screaming reds. They look like something out of Dr. Seuss, but they’re titled “Ode to Shel Silverstein 1 and 2,” for the whimsical children’s poet.

Joyous silhouettes move like shadows across the paper in Frank Chin’s monotype “The Wedding Dance.” An innocent hand offers a bouquet of electric, neon tulips in Marcie Jan Bronstein’s “Tulips,” a large, painted negative photo whose beauty lies in its arresting contrast.

The work in “Love” runs the gamut from traditional to edgy, and the variety keeps things interesting. This show is at once wickedly funny, bitter, sexy and sweet – like love itself.

Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 596-6010.

Art notes

. Rockland’s galleries will hold a joint opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 24. The event will give art lovers a chance to walk from gallery to gallery to celebrate the beginning of the season.

. The Shaw Gallery in Northeast Harbor will kick off its season with the Mount Desert Open, featuring the work of 45 local painters and sculptors in a wide range of styles. There will be a “festive opening” from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 23. The show runs through June 18.

. “Pointed Pairings: The Valuing of Art,” an exhibit that examines issues of monetary, aesthetic and emotional value in art, will run through June 9 at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. The show includes 30 pairs of objects that differ markedly in value, though it is not immediately apparent which of the two is more valuable and why. Museum hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For information, call 725-3275 or visit www.bowdoin.edu/artmuseum.