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[Epigraph]
"Prediction is very difficult,
especially if it's about the future..."
~ (attributed to) Niels Bohr
"Эх раз, ещё раз, ещё много много раз..."
~ An old Russian song (of a tragicomic variety)
It would have taken a true
clairvoyant to have
predicted a year ago all
of the positive art
happenings that came to
pass for me during this
year. So, for the sheer
pleasure of sharing them
with you, and to count my
blessings:
Bracketing the year, two
of my favorite paintings
found their new homes.
Last January, it was the
biggest painting I had
ever painted (which I
profiled in Scene4 in my September Art Feature "A 15-year Quest").
This December, it was the
turn of a much smaller
painting, which
nevertheless packs a big
punch -- in this case from
my Post-Minimal group of
panel paintings -- "2
BLU 4 U".
"2 BLU 4U", 24 x 24 in. (61 x 61 cm), Oil stick, acrylic,
glass beads & textural media on wood panel, 2020
This painting, this particular burst of color and confluence of textures, was
singled out when shown at the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts
annual sale -- a celebrated event that raises scholarship funds for young art
students. "2 BLU 4U" had previously been seen in Boston but briefly, in a
small group show at the depth of the pandemic. I vividly remember
completing it with the little squiggle of translucent crystal texture at the
bottom left of the panel, as the last stroke, important compositionally... .
Among other signs that the US Art World has emerged from the pandemic,
is the full return to the in-person exhibition format. I still exhibit in online
shows, and even organized one myself, for my Boston gallery Array
Contemporary, earlier in the year. Yet in a burst of in-person shows in
2023, my work was included in
7 group shows
in NYC and Boston, as
well as
two duo exhibitions
, the first of which allowed me to enjoy a
part of last summer in the artists' and tourists' haven of outer Cape Cod.
Even now, as NYC is savoring the afterglow of its New Year celebrations,
my second 2-person show is still very much in evidence -- a
duo
exhibition with Jo Ann Rothschild at Lichtundfire
, a Lower East
Side NYC gallery. It is beautifully selected and installed and is about to host
a
Closing Reception on January 5th*
. I would like to invite you to
enjoy it with us, as we share here virtually a few mementos from our
intentionally exuberant, color-filled December Vernissage.
A fortuitously designed digital postcard, with details of both of our paintings
A general view of part of the exhibition; two nearest paintings are:
Rothschild "Just Before the Storm", and Gerstein "Master Stroke"
and the same view with visitors at the Opening
Life imitates art.. (with Rothschild's magisterial "John Meets Paul")
...with some more visitors to our exhibition (enjoying Gerstein's
"Beyond the Idea of Rightdoing and Wrongdoing")
A photo with the artist is now an equivalent of an author's autograph
Celebrating the colors, always!
And in conclusion of my art year in review, please join me one and all...
...in a toast to the promise of the new
...a hope that is this new year,
a fresh new world in the morning dew,
and a wonderful gift that is you... .
*
UNFORCED ORDER: Paintings of Jo Ann Rothschild and Philip
Gerstein. Closing Reception: Friday, January 5, 2023, 6-8pm
at LICHTUNDFIRE, 175 Rivington Street, New York, NY USA 10002
(Lower East Side). Exhibition Dates: Dec.6, 2023 - Jan.6, 2024.
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