At first glance, John McAllister’s art seems to be the work of a Californian. His palette tends toward dreamy shades of pink, purple, and turquoise. Actually he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he’s overwhelmed by the force of seasonal change. Autumn arrives, for instance, and floods his canvas with luminous tangerine geometries. McAllister takes inspiration from the artists Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard, masters of color and light—color as light. But he is also firmly attached to words. The title of this exhibition at James Fuentes is “sun sundry beguiles wild.” McAllister’s interest in language remains crucial to his work and is the basis of his scattered pattern and vignette scenes. —Frankie Budworth