In a New Light: James Burpee Recent Paintings

Opening Saturday: When it comes to landscapes, Minnesota painter James Burpee is not a big-picture guy. Instead of grand vistas and distant horizons, he focuses on the intimate landscape nearby and even underfoot. His is a hiker's viewpoint, shaped by the trail ahead, the hills to climb and the streams to be crossed. Attentive to the play of light on leaf and rock and water, he composes his paintings as abstract designs made up of colorful patches of light and dark hues that coalesce into illusions of forest glades, rocky gorges and crystalline waters tumbling over gleaming boulders. After a 50-year career as painter and professor at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Minnesota, Burpee is scrutinizing the lakes, creeks, ponds and lagoons of northern Minnesota "In a New Light," as he calls this show of 32 sparkling new paintings, including "Tree Shadows," shown here. (Opening reception 7-9 p.m. Sat. Free. Gallery 13, 811 LaSalle Av., Mpls. Ends June 28. 651-592-5503 or www.gallery13.com)