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[Epigraph:]
“I want to get as close as possible to the truth
and am therefore abstracting everything
until I get to the foundation…of things.”
~ Piet Mondrian
"I paint what I want to see.”
~ Philip Guston
Just
in time this early April,
several NY and Boston
artists have come together
to hurry the slow
progression of New England
Spring -- with their own
steeped in color
contribution. I've had
the pleasure & the
privilege of curating this
large group exhibition,
alighting at the
Brickbottom Gallery
(Somerville MA), to span
all of April (4-28). This
show, titled:
"THE SHAPE OF COLOR - 5 ABSTRACT ARTISTS"
will feature two Boston
and three New York
artists, and through
contrast and comparison, a
range of post-Minimal
Color Abstraction.
While a report on the
exact shape of this
exhibition will have to
wait until my next
month's posting, I am
delighted to share with
our readers some of the
images and the curatorial
proposal for this show,
and of course to invite
you to our Opening
(Apr.6), and Closing
(Apr.28) Receptions.
Francie Lyshak RBG (In honor of Ruth Bader Ginsberg)
24 x 40 in., oil on linen, 2020
Ellen Weider Town & Country 16 x 20 in., Oil on linen, 2019
Gordon Fearey Part of Something ,
Watercolor on paper, 16 x 20 in. , 2020
Jane Yudelman Unbound 32,
33 x 26 in., Archival pigment print
Philip Gerstein I Am What I Am , 36 x 36 in., Acrylic,
glass beads, & textural media on birchwood panel , 2020
CURATORIAL STATEMENT
Color Will Set You Free.
This exhibition highlights the practice of
Color Abstraction
in the work
of five artists.
For a professional artist, working with color is not a simple or casual thing.
Color can be persistent or unstable, seemingly permanent or fleeting. Color
is the most uncertain property of material objects -- a function of ever
changing light, ever dependent on its surroundings. This
objective/subjective condition makes color as fugitive as emotion -- like a
musical note rising and then dissolving into remnant vibration.
Thus, somewhere between music and poetry, between vibrating with sound
and declaiming with language, color soaks in into our visual consciousness.
Reaching into the sanctuary space of our body and our perception,
color is emotion
. And it is the confidence and skill with which these five artists
harness that inescapable, emotive property of color, that allows them to
'speak' so confidently in the language of abstraction -- perhaps even to
claim Color Abstraction as capable of being a universal language. Whether
forceful or meditative, the clearly positive and lasting impact of the
paintings in this exhibition is intended to persuade an engaged viewer of
the likelihood of the universality of such a notion.
In our exhibition, the 5 artists' work will be interhung, seeking parallels
and contrasts, such as:
the striking similarities of form in Weider's "Objet d'Art" and Gerstein's "In
Clarity";
the parallels in the structural organization of Lyshak's "RGB" and
Yudelman's "One Day";
or the contrasting use of linear elements in Gerstein's "Annunciation"
compared with Fearey's "Permanent".
I intend to use the broad spectrum of my own abstraction as an occasional
bridge to span the similarities and underscore the contrasts. I hope for this
arrangement to enhance the experience of our exhibition -- the subtlety,
the sensuousness, and the sheer beauty of these artists' experimentation
with color amid the intuitively organic design.
~ Philip Gerstein
Francie Lyshak
francielyshak.com/
"During this challenging digital era, I am exploring the physical body of my
medium. ... The colors, in combination with the surface agitation, evoke a
variety of moods. The monochromes evoke moods encountered deep in
oneself during times of solitude."
Ellen Weider
ellenweider.com/
"Drawing and painting are of equal weight in my work. ... Whether my
prints, drawings, and paintings are interpreted as pure abstractions or as
self-contained narratives, an ironic humor with a meditative bent informs
them."
Gordon Fearey
www.gordonfearey.com/
"I think of a painting as a piece of writing, with a beginning, middle and
end."
Jane Yudelman
janeyudelman.com/
"Using self-imposed parameters of time and place, I create abstract images
composed of color and form drawn from nature. It is through these that I
explore perception — how we see and experience the world within and
around us."
Philip Gerstein
PhilipGerstein.com
"Just as I speak fluently more than one language, I 'speak' fluently several
distinct styles of abstraction. My interest in color and texture joins
them all!
I feel that color abstraction, when used with skill and genuine conviction,
can be 'spoken' as a universal language."
Look for further updates, including a possible Artists' Talk / Zoom in mid
-April, on the Gallery's webpage.
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