EXHIBITS: Petaluma gallery’s ‘Earth Walker’ show is bright and bold

Inside Heebe Jeebe General Store, tucked into the closet-sized “room” known as the Back House Gallery, artist Wyatt Hersey is proving that a very small art show can have some very big ideas. Running through Oct. 14 at the Back House Gallery, thirteen of Hersey’s paintings make up the show entitled “Earth Walker.” Each painting shows delightful, brightly colored figures of people, animals, fish, all engaging in some activity, from swimming and walking to standing and talking. Though it might be tempting to assume that Hersey’s imagery is going for simplicity and playfulness, closer examination shows images and shapes inside every main image, giving the sense that, as walkers on this Earth, every living thing is far more complex that we might at first appear.

Back House Gallery, at Heebe Jeebe, is at 46 Kentucky St. Earth Walker is open daily through Saturday, Oct. 14.