Floral duet

Herein The Arts Muse institutes a new occasional feature, "Gallery Getaway," which spotlights a commercial or museum gallery that offers a mini-vacation in the mind for our troubled times.

Our first Gallery Getaway is to Madelyn Jordon Fine Art in Scarsdale, whose latest show is a conversation between the imaginations of a well-known painter and the sculptor he inspired.

"David Kimball Anderson & Morris Graves: A Unique Pairing" (through Jan. 9) juxtaposes Graves' floral paintings in various media with Anderson's steel and bronze floral sculptures. This is a marriage of true minds, in large part because Graves' floral works — which he concentrated on later in his career — are just so solid. In "Bouquet (begonia flowers)," a 1975 watercolor with tempera, you're always aware of the three-dimensionality of the cylindrical glass vase and of the begonias. That a sculptor should be enchanted with this is no surprise.

That Anderson should be that sculptor is also no surprise. There is an unusual delicacy to his steely blossoms in "Spring Flowers (strawberry flowers)," which sit in the kind of vase Graves often painted. Both works also have a spare Zen quality typical of these spiritual artists.

Graves (1910-2001), who began his career with a mystical bent, later rejected this in favor of the divinity of nature.

"There is no statement or message other than the presence of the flowers and light," he observed of his work. "That is enough."

Madelyn Jordon Fine Art is open 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. The small white and brick gallery, at 14 Chase Road, also houses colorful paintings by Wosene Worke Kosrof that evoke the masks and rich patterning of his native Ethiopia; vivid landscapes by Lawrence Kelsey; and works in an encaustic medium by Earl Schofield that perfectly suit our wintry season.

David Kimball Anderson's "Winter Bouquet," a 2009 bronze, steel and painted work (top left), appears courtesy of Madelyn Jordon Fine Art. Morris Graves' "Autumn Bouquet," a gouache on paper circa 1949 (top right), appears courtesy of the Spanierman Gallery.