Critic's Choice

Mini-reviews of current exhibits
By Advertiser art critic Virginia Wageman

• "A Printmaker in Paradise: The Life and Art of Charles W. Bartlett" (Honolulu Academy of Arts, through Jan. 6, 532-8700): A master of the Japanese genre of ukiyo-e printmaking, Bartlett lived in Honolulu from 1917 until his death 23 years later. He was instrumental in the founding of the Honolulu Printmakers. This important survey of his career includes paintings, watercolors and the prints for which he is best known.

• "Remains of a Rainbow" (Honolulu Academy of Arts, through Dec. 30, 532-8700): Incredible photos of Hawai'i's endangered plants and animals by the acclaimed photographic team of David Liittschwager and Susan Middleton. They spent five years documenting rare species in intimate and dramatic close-ups.

• Madge Tennent and Chris Campbell (Cedar Street Galleries, through Dec. 2, 589-1580): A rare opportunity to see paintings, drawings and prints by Tennent (1889i1972), whose subject was Hawaiian women, whom she portrayed as graceful and dignified. Campbell — in her unromanticized, straightforward portraits of Hawaiian women — today expresses the spirit that so engaged Tennent.

• Robert Kushner (The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center, through Dec. 5, 526-1322): Kushner works with a bold, bright palette, adding metallic leaf and glitter to further spark his wild colors and patterns. His subject is flowers of Hawai'i. Ginger, plumeria, hibiscus, heliconia and other flora are painted in a semiabstract manner over exuberant abstract backgrounds.