Ongoing: Throughlines at PFA Gallery

Painter Jason Karolak and ceramicist Ara Koh use disparate materials and approaches to their work, but they make a pleasing pairing in the cozy gallery at Pazo Fine Art. Both artists use the most basic element in art—the line—and tweak it in intriguing ways that has endless permutations. A large platform in the center of the main room is laden with Koh’s tabletop sculptures, which take ribbons of clay that are then laid in sumptuous piles, like overloaded plates of spaghetti. Koh has previously created clay works with walls that are wafer-thin, and here she continues to push the limits of how clay behaves and its structural integrity, and it doesn’t seem possible that the forms should be so solid or able to remain balanced as they do. A series of Karolak’s deceptively simple ink and graphite line drawings together forms a conversation that spans a wall, resembling diagrams, weather patterns, or dance step charts. This array of configurations is drawn in fine gradations of black and gray, and the subtlety echoes the faint glimmers of different hues that come through in Koh’s glazing techniques. Three colorful paintings by Karolak also hang here, and their linework stays in the same graphic vocabulary as the ink drawings, but sits atop planes of color. They deploy fluorescent mazes combined with rich, cool background shades, giving the feel of a digital landscape. Koh’s use of color similarly gives her work an otherworldly sense, using shades that range from punchy to delicate, and sometimes giving them deep black glazes that look like they’re metallic rather than clay. Throughlines runs through May 28 at PFA Gallery, 1932 9th Street NW, #C102. pfagallery.com. Free. —Stephanie Rudig

May 15, 2026