Manya Scheps reviews imaginary gardens, real toads, an exhibition imaginary gardens, real toads, paintings by Kaitlin Pomerantz at the Brodsky Gallery at Kelly Writer's House, Philadelphia, on view through October 26, 2012.

Scheps writes: "Though the show… has classical and traditional roots, it also rebuffs formality, opening up figuration to abstraction. The paintings of empty frames seem realistic until they don’t: sun discoloring a wall would create an opposite effect than the one Pomerantz has painted – the wall around the frame would be lighter. Her subtle reversal creates a vignette, the space where the frame once was is now a ghostly memorial. The lightened space becomes an impression, falling in line with her work in printmaking. As if family photos and mirrors were copper plates, Pomerantz presses them into the space of the canvas, forcing a recollection of ambiguous stories."