Radical Chrome at Kenise Barnes Fine Art

Partial panorama of Radical Chrome at Kenise Barnes Fine Art: two by me, three by Audrey Stone, tondo by Julie Maren, three by Jenny Kemp, one by Mary Judge

What's the antidote to the waning light of the season? Color! I'm delighted to be sharing the walls at Kenise Barnes Fine Art with four other artists, all of whom are engaged with the power of pigment. The opening of Radical Chrome took place  a couple of weeks ago, but the show is up through January 15.

The gallery is located in Kent, Connecticut, in a cultural enclave that consists of contemporary structures and some restored barns that house art galleries, design and antique businesses, and artisanal food shops—the aptly named Kent Barns. Kent is in the far western part of the state, just under two hours from Manhattan.  Let me take you on a clockwise tour from the entrance, which you see below.

Entrance to Kenise Barnes Fine Art

These images offer a more inclusive view of the show. Starting from the far left: a small work by me and two by Mary Judge

Joanne Mattera, Tutto 5, 2022, oil and oil pastel on panel, 16 x 12 inches

Opposite the entrance, these two gorgeous pieces by Mary Judge, who is known for her symmetrical, often mandala-like paintings and works on paper. She uses the Italian Renaissance technique of spolvero to delineate the composition 

Historically spolvero was used to transfer a design from a perforated paper template to a canvas by pouncing a small bag filled with fine charcoal dust. Contemporary master Judge uses the technique not as an intermediary element but to create the actual drawing using pigment powder

Above: Mary Judge,  Primavera Pop 14, 2022, powdered pigment on paper, 34.5 x 34.5 inches framed

Below:  Primavera Pop 28B, 2022, powdered pigment on paper, 34.5 x 34.5 inches framed

Continuing around the gallery: Joanne Mattera, Audrey Stone 

Above: Joanne Mattera, Tutto 9, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

My new series, Tutto, continues the themes I have been working with for some time: a divided field, emphasis on the horizontal, and saturated color

Below: Tutto 8, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

Audrey Stone, Julie Maren

Audrey Stone, Coast to Coast 7, 2022, acrylic and flashe on canvas, 40 x 30 inches

Often inspired by personal events, Audrey Stone's vibrational works are by turns meditative and retinally stimulating, the result of minute shifts in color progression.  Each band of color may represent a single days work

Passing Through, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40 inches

Coast to Coast 6, 2022, acrylic and flashe on canvas, 40 x 30 inches

Audrey Stone, Julie Maren, Jenny Kemp

Julie Maren, Bouquet, 2022; acorn tops, plaster, paint, brass; 50 inches diameter and six inches deep

Maren's connection to the natural world is direct, as she uses acorn tops as the repository for color.  Installations are dimensional, jumping the boundaries between painting and sculpture

 
Detail below

Jenny Kemp, Midsection, 2022, acrylic on linen mounted on canvas, 40 x 32 inches

Kemp's biologically inspired paintings employ pattern and rhythm, suggesting organic growth. Gradations of hue deepen the sense of accretion and development.

Tandem, 2022, acrylic on linen mounted on canvas, 18 x 14 inches

Braid, 2022, acrylic on linen mounted on canvas, 25 x 22 inches

 

Continuing around the gallery: Jenny Kemp, Mary Judge

Mary Judge, Primavera Pop 03, 2022, powdered pigment on paper, 34.5 x 34.5 inches framed

Pollinator, 2020, oil on linen, framed 9.5 x 9.5 inches

Yellow Gemelli, 2020, oil on linen, 7.5 x 7.5 framed

Pink Kiss, 2020, oil on linen, 7.5 x 7.5 framed

Radical Chrome is up through January 15. 

More info about the gallery

More info about the show 

More info about Kent Barns      

All and Everything

My work from the past year is largely horizontal. On a bisected field (square or vertically rectangular) there are bands of color on the top half over a more or less monochromatic bottom half. I call the series Tutto because in it I have painted in encaustic, my mainstay medium for the past 30 years, as well as acrylic, oil, and oil pastel. In other words, everything. (Tutto is Italian for everything.) Also, for me color is everything, the simpler the composition, the better.

View from Newbury Street in Boston, where my solo, Tutto, is up through November 29 at Arden Gallery

In the past few months I have shown, or am showing, Tutto paintings in several venues. In this post are installation shots from Arden Gallery in Boston, where my solo, the eponymous Tutto, is up through November 29; a little teaser from Radical Chrome at Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Kent, Connecticut, where I am part of a five-artist show that focuses on, yes, color (I’ll soon have a full-length post on that show, which is up for a long stretch); and Pique, a group show that opened the season at Marcia Wood Gallery in Atlanta in September.

If you are familiar with my work, you'll see that the later paintings in the Silk Road series feature the same horizontally banded and bisected field. Transitions are interesting as one idea morphs into another. Tutto continues the bisected field while Silk Road will double back and resume its identity as a series of color fields (I'm not finished with that series yet!). 

 This painting is in the Arden window: Tutto 14,  2022, acrylic on panel, 48 x 40 inches

View into Arden's front gallery
Photo courtesy of the gallery

In the front gallery: Tutto 13,  2022, acrylic on panel, 48 x 40 inches

In the front gallery: Tutto 11,  2022, encaustic on panel on panel, 36 x 36 inches

Below: View around the corner into the middle gallery

Tutto 18, 2022, encaustic on panel, 18 x 18 inches

In the middle gallery: Silk Road 488, 2020, encaustic on panel, 24 x 24 inches
This is one of the paintings in transition from Silk Road to Tutto

 

In the middle gallery: Tutto 20, 2022, encaustic on panel, 24 x 24 inches

You can see more on the gallery's website   

. . . . .

Radical Chrome at Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Kent Connecticut, through January 15

I'll have another post soon that focuses exclusively on Radical Chrome and its five participating artists. For now, here's a little peek. You can see more on the gallery's website.

Tutto 9, 2022, left, and Tutto 8, each acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

Panorama with the five artists: two by me, three by Audrey Stone, tondo by Julie Maren, three by Jenny Kemp, and one by Mary Judge. You'll see more from each artist in the next post

Tutto 9, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

. . . . . .

Pique at Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, September 2022

Pique opened the gallery's fall season with a selection of work by gallery artists: Benjamin Britton, Robert Chamberlin, Deborah Dancy, Scott Eakin, Mary Engel, Deb Lawrence, Tim McDowell, Kim Ouellette, Joe Peragine, Robert Sagerman, and myself. You can see more on the gallery's website.

Recent at Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta

Installation view from the group show, Pique

Tutto 7, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

Tutto 16, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

Tutto 17, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

Tutto 15, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

Catalog with all the Tutto paintings to date, plus a selection of works from Mezza and Riz 

Click here to view the catalog 

A conversation in the Summer 2022 issue of The Art Section between Deanna Sirlin and myself on "Contemplating the Horizontal." Click here to read