The small drawings are so quiet and beautiful, revealing a mastery of craft and a great eye for light, that the disturbing subject matter isn’t immediately apparent.  But it doesn’t take long to discover it: gaping holes gouged

into the landscape, machines eating the ground. “Breakdown” is a solo show from established artist and long-time professor at MDC, Robert Huff, which explores one of the most destructive inventions humans have ever done to the earth and to ourselves—mining.  Though dark in theme, it’s a pleasure to have such a quality show from someone who knows his artistry well.

Several elements stand out in the drawings. One is the geometric pencil strokes, giving the works a textured background—looking at times like woven basket segments or tapestries.  As the artist describes it, “I’m seduced by patterns.” Then there are the architectural structures, mechanical equipment, and grids; and finally there are those black mounds in the foreground, scarred and decapitated, which are often “lit” with a dim moon, or sun, or maybe a light from a miner’s hardhat. (Those black mountains can morph into shrouded creatures when looked at in a certain way; no less disturbing.)

Huff, who taught sculpture (there are three sculptures in this show as well) and later become head of the art department at MDC’s Kendall campus, now spends much of his time up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, the inspiration for this show.

As Huff tells it, around 10 years ago he found an old Boy Scout campground for sale in that area, which as it turns out was close to where his wife, Barbara Young, grew up. Already fascinated with specific environments that surround us, he became familiar not only with the landscape left behind by coal mining, but by the light of Appalachia as well, the one diffused by seasonal foliage and mountains and so very different from South Florida. So the lighting in these latest works reflect that geographic region, along with what light must feel like when peering up from an underground excavation—as Huff says, that feeling of “tunnel vision.” It’s dramatic stuff, but softened, like the light.

The drawings are hung in the main gallery of Carol Jazzar’s gallery, which is in a rehabbed garage. But separately, in a room inside the house, are two wood sculptures and a large-scale, wooden painting—don’t miss it, a very intimate side journey.

“Breakdown” is enough to make you want to see more “emerged” art around town.

“Breakdown,” a solo outing from Robert Huff, at Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art, through March 13; 158 NW 91st St., Miami; 305-490-6906; www.cjazzart.com.