Deploying an economy of means, line, and gesture, Molly Smith's (b. 1976) installation of watercolors and painted plaster objects combine an ephemeral materialism with uncanny whimsicality. The artist's dream-like imagery can never quite be pinned down: with one foot in the door of the familiar, and one in the door of the unfamiliar, Smith's restrained yet spontaneous sensibility evokes the sleep of reason, conjuring up a sort of psychological twilight zone.

Image and abstraction collapse into poetic evocations of mystery: at once elegant, beautiful and disturbing, Smith's watercolors and sculptures can be characterized as graceful, semantic slips--slipping traces of underworlds and undertows, siren songs of wonder.

The artist's installation includes watercolors in a variety of sizes--from large to small--and three-dimensional works made of cast plaster, paper, and paint occupying the gallery's floor, walls, and ceiling. New York-based Molly Smith is a recent M.F.A. graduate of Columbia University.