Alan Pocaro reviews William Eckhardt Kohler: Alchemy + Elements at Linda Warren Projects, Chicago, on view through August 13, 2016.

Pocaro writes: “Once through Kohler’s looking glass, each picture ceases to be a mere amalgam of oil and linen. Instead, the artist’s brush offers us a glimpse into an otherworldly place… That painting can show us new realities and point toward higher spiritual states seems a quaint notion lost in the self-reflexivity of much contemporary work. Almost by default, we envision art as a cultural mirror, reflecting nothing more than what we already know. More than ever, we need works like Kohler’s; images that show us not where we are, but rather, where we could be. “