State museums and national galleries may get all the big-ticket artists, but large-scale shows lack the warmth of a small gallery. Just as a club show gets you closer to the action than stadium seats in the nosebleed section, smaller galleries like the Bero make up for lack of space with atmosphere.

Currently the Bero Gallery is showing the work of local artists Brian McCarthy and Ruth K. Marblestone. As photographers their methods and approach to the subject matter could not be more different, but their subject is the same: the human form.

McCarthy has been refining a series of unusual photographic techniques for several years, and his works show a refined polish. By capturing models in black-and-white while moving using various sources of light and shadow, McCarthy abstracts their bodies into vaporous shapes and blurs. By the use of long exposure times and low light, a graceful gesture becomes a gauzy pattern of light. There are hints here and there of a nose or a shoulder, a chin or an extended finger, but for the most part the models are just anonymous forms caught in the midst of some mysterious gesture.

The prints themselves are small and discreetly matted, giving them a stark appearance. Each has a background of impenetrable black, throwing the whiteness of the model's flesh into contrast.

McCarthy's compositions are extremely controlled and centered, almost to a fault. Because of his technique of capturing movement, he said that often he has no idea what was recorded on the film, and may go through a half dozen rolls of film without printing a single picture. Literally shooting in the dark, McCarthy relies on fortuitous chance and chaos to help create the composition. His ability to create such refined prints out of so many variables is remarkable.

Ruth K. Marblestone's lush color prints have a hyperreal atmosphere, portraits with a sense of the surreal. With an eye toward color as well as composition, her prints feature artificial lighting and sharp contrasts of color and form. Isolating individuals and couples against both man-made and natural backdrops, these prints have the air of theater rather than realism; the glowing colors and deliberate postures of the subjects give these prints a cinematic feel.

Taken at various locations across the United States, Marblestone's photographs seem more concerned with atmosphere than accuracy, but that is their strength. In her own fashion Marblestone abstracts the human form by lifting it out of a typical context.

By abstracting their subject both photographers encourage a re-investigation of the human form. Free from the stylistic conventions of typical portrait or fashion photography, their prints draw the eye to motion and posture, capturing the complexities of human character.

Veterans of the Tucson arts scene, both have shown at downtown galleries before. The Bero Gallery itself is a great forum for these two photographers. Its sparse, storefront feel and abundance of natural light make it a warm and natural setting for photographs of any type.

The Bero Gallery, 41 S. 6th Ave., is open from 1p.m. to 5p.m. weekdays; until 10p.m. on Artwalk Thursdays and Downtown Saturday night.

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