K Gallery at Rhythmix Cultural Works is, like the rest of us, recovering from the excess of the holiday festivities just past. Their response is a somewhat austere show, which opened Jan. 14 and runs through March 5.

Black and White limited its artists to a monochromatic palette — only blacks, whites and grays allowed. The show stands as testament to the adage, "less is more," and is a breath of aesthetic fresh air.

Tonya Marie's piece sits by the entrance of the gallery, welcoming visitors as they wander in. According to her artist's statement, she was intent on creating "something beautiful from a subject often seen as unattractive.”  Her "Beautiful Crows" takes inspiration from the inelegant bird — recently invading Alameda and thus subject of much speculation — to create a piece equal parts Goth and Victoriana. 

Brendan Clunn takes the opposite route — turning subjects usually depicted as graceful or majestic into awkward, ragged Franken-sculpture. “Deer,” “Pelican,” “Bull” and “Blind Fish” are lumpy steel versions of those creatures, the seams of the metal running like haphazard scars across their metal bodies. The deer leans unsteadily against a wall, as if it hasn’t quite gotten its legs yet; the bull, like a deflated mineral balloon, struggles to stand, its insectine legs poking ineffectually up into the air.

Angie Martorana’s “Round August” is a lovely demonstration of the varieties simple black lines on white surfaces can create. A series of lines within constrained circles, Martorana produces images reminiscent of roses or yarn or snakes or octopi or riotous highway overpasses. And most amazingly of all, you can pick up a pack of six prints for only $20! Now that’s a post-holiday sale if there ever was one.

Despite the simplicity, there is a certain kind of extravagance in the show. Zsuzsanna Laszlo takes simple black lines and lets them escape their frames, spidering across the wall between canvases, their winding shadows against the gallery wall becoming part of the work.

And Philip Long’s large leather embroideries have a decadence of material, even as they are restrained in their palettes. Long stitches scenes into the leather, then stretches them over wood frames. From a distance, they might be mistaken for paintings, but up close the viewer is drawn into the sheen and texture of the leather itself.

Long's “Original Two Banger” combines the mechanical and organic, depicting what might be pistons or robots or alien life forms. Long’s other two pieces in the exhibit — “Chill Out Vibe at Hobson’s” and “Tribute to an Idiot” — have an even narrower color scheme (“Original Two Banger” includes some grays, while the latter two works stick are only white and black), and yet manage to include subtle variety in the textures and shades of the white leather. The hair of the “Idiot” is made from hair-on-hide — cowhide with the fur still intact — a nice touch.

David Peniston’s “Lechery” in typewriter ink depicts a big, dead fly the size of a child’s hand, which graces the center of the paper, the title lettered out in gothic type.  

And Kate Kosmos’s use of ragged edges, gesso, and joint compound in conjunction with watercolors brings texture and gentle color shifts to her works on paper.

“Black and White” is like a snowy January day, calm yet intricate, peaceful yet alive. And it also throws in a tribute to the awkward and the strange, a welcome addition as we pack up our sparkly ornaments and blinking lights and return to our quotidian lives.

“Black and White” can be viewed at K Gallery at Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Avenue, through March 5, 2011. A second Opening Reception will be held on Friday, Feb. 11, from 6 to 9 p.m.