Xico Greenwald reviews two exhibitions: John Lees at Betty Cuningham Gallery (through June 22) and Maria Calandra: Pencil in the Studio at Sardine (through June 16).

For John Lees, Greenwald writes, "the seclusion of an upstate attic studio [is] where the painter found the physical and psychic space to make personal artworks from excavated memories. For Maria Calandra, a young Brooklyn-based artist, creative workspace is her subject matter, making intimate 'portraits' of artist friends by drawing their studio interiors."