For some artists, subject is a motivating factor. For others, process is a passion. For the seven artists in "Materiality," material is the guiding force.

This handsomely installed show offers materials ranging from curled ribbon to resin blocks tinted with crushed Sweetheart candies to oil paint so thick it becomes sculpture.
D'Nell Larson of Chicago shows the most versatility. Using everyday items, she creates installations that make you think twice. One sculptural piece is made of 19 boxes of curled Caribbean blue ribbon shaped into a small mountain. Another features two low walls of resin blocks colored by crushed Sweetheart candies. Yet another dominates a wall with a constellation of off-white half-spheres twinkling with Swarovski crystals.

New York artist Jason Young is all about surface texture. His meticulous pieces are all made from acrylic and resin mounted on wood, yet he achieves varied looks. "Horizontal Slip" is a luscious, soft, steel-blue relief with a grain that approximates gentle waves. "Coppermint Swirl" has an underlying green fingerprint pattern with a top layer of pinkish bubbles, combining to trick the eye with a back-and-forth illusion. Other pieces are reminiscent of large topographical maps, with intricate details carved out of the surface and highlighted in color or gold leaf.

Margaret Evangeline of New York explores an unconventional canvas with her three-paneled oil painting on battered aluminum. She leaves marks in deep purple paint that drips and pools, sharing space with puncture marks on the irregular surface.

James Holmberg of Minneapolis offers three large oil paintings that are so saturated in rich, glaze-smoothed paint -- blues, greens and autumn shades -- that you get lost in the deep colors that seem to blend into one. Amoeba-shaped forms float on the surfaces. Each is accompanied by a small square canvas bearing the painting's palette skillfully painted in stripes that appear rounded.

New York artist Scott Richter and Clarence Morgan of Minneapolis use paint sculpturally. Richter builds 6- to 8-inch mounds of paint layer by oozing layer onto everyday surfaces, such as a work table. He also uses thick blobs of paint to accent graphite drawings. Morgan builds up the rough surface of his canvas with thick paint in many colors, then combs through them to blend and swirl. Though abstractions, many have hints of a subject.

James Chatelain of Findlay, Ohio, uses common materials in his pieces that give a nod to more classical references. Two paintings that resemble heads are created on wood using paint and metal screws to approximate lines. In one sculptural piece, he elevates an old work boot to sculpture by covering its surface in shiny screws and then placing it in a vitrine.

Through these varied works, "Materiality" allows a glimpse at how contemporary artists are redefining our definition of painting.