As the son of an artist, Christopher Moss naturally gravitated toward a career in the arts.

So when his father, David Moss, was arranging a one-man exhibition of his mixed-media work at the Isadore Gallery, it just seemed natural for it to become a two-man, father-son exhibit.

"I was very excited to have the opportunity to exhibit with my father," says Chris Moss, 25, a Pennsylvania College of Art & Design graduate. "It's something we talked about when we were in New Mexico."

David Moss is a painter, while his son is a photographer. In their exhibition, Chris Moss explores the landscapes of New Mexico in "Land of Enchantment," while David Moss's abstract mixed-media works evoke messages of the ever-changing balance of life in "Transient Equilibrium."

"Our work is very different, but there is a certain unity to it," Chris Moss says. "Maybe because we are father and son."

David Moss has been a professor at Pennsylvania College of Art & Design for as many years as his son has been alive. He studied art at Millersville University and Syracuse University. He has had solo exhibitions in Lancaster, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Harrisburg.

His work is included in the collections of Armstrong World Industries, the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts and Lebanon Valley College. He was the recipient of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship Grant.

In contrast, his son is relatively new to the world of art and just getting started in his career as a fine arts photographer. As Chris Moss explains it, he tries to achieve social and psychological messages within his art. The images he evokes are meant to be powerful and thought-provoking.

"In this exhibit, the landscapes of New Mexico capture the aura of the land in its desolation and enchantment," Chris Moss says.

In some ways, David Moss presents a similar sensibility in his abstracts, done in a mix of oil-based and water-based media. Using the old masters' technique of gouache -- tempera paint sealed with oil paints -- the colors seem richer and bolder.

"I am trying to convey the sensation of that elusive moment when forms begin to emerge and there is equilibrium. Then it shifts and it is not as clear," David Moss says.

That, he explained, is the idea behind abstract work. The artist may have an idea or concept in mind. Perhaps it is a certain emotion or feeling. The viewer may see it in a completely different way. The same images may conjure unique feelings for each person who observes it.

"That is what is meant by transient equilibrium. It's there and then not quite there," he says. "Meaningfulness presents itself in small fleeting moments of intuition. It is recognition of a specific state of order always on the periphery, a phase transition from thought to feeling and back again, a transient state of equilibrium and understanding."

He goes on to explain that the images are the result of an improvisational process that "intentionally courts ambiguous dialog between both random and systemic structures, humor, flux, and a sense of forms slowly unfolding an uncertain identity and a tenuous order."

For Chris Moss, it is his first one-man show -- as part of a two-man exhibition. Since earning his BFA at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design three years ago, he has been working as a commercial studio product photographer. The exhibit gives him a chance to demonstrate an artistic view as a photographer.

"'Land of Enchantment' is a photographic immersion into a world where past, and present collide, creating a visual dialog between the forces of time and nature," he says. "These photographs strive to evoke a moment when the natural world and the progress of human history intertwine into a dance that spans generations."

In his photographs of New Mexico, there is desolation and magic, as the sky seems to roll out into infinity over a land that is both beautiful and ruthless, serene and rugged.

"The air is suffused with the stories of struggle and joy, time comes to an abrupt stop and the land begins to speak," Chris Moss says. "I think our work speaks, in ways that are very different and very much the same."

"Transient Equilibrium"

by David Moss

"Land of Enchantment"

by Christopher Moss

Cont. through Oct. 29

Thurs. and Fri. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

(First Fri. until 9 p.m.)

Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and by appt. Free

Isadore Gallery

228 N. Prince St., 299-0127
www.isadore-gallery.com