532 Gallery is proud to present ‚ Barachois, a series of new paintings by Peggy Bates in which the artist continues her fascination with the signification and expressivity of organic form as a direct charismatic link to the natural world. Her most recent body of work has taken on a chromatic tone of coolness which ranges from the icy blue associated with the first days of a new winter season, to day-glo yellow and fuchsia, purple, aquamarine, and sea green. The forms which appear in this work are characterized by a scriptlike furtiveness, in which broad swaths of bright colors wade amid a light blue background, just like the eddies of tides which are caught against the sandbars of tidal pools before being swept out to sea. But despite their sensitive chromatic touch, and the antic forms in their foreground, they are characterized by a sense of aesthetic polarity suggesting chiaroscuro. Beyond the demonstrative flow of her marks, there is an intimation that Bates is exploring new ways to signify form, and her new gestures suggest hieroglyphics, LED signals on heart monitors or lie detectors, or brightly colored flags waving in a fresh wind.