|
Epigraph:
If I get another chance at love
If I get another chance
...
If I have a chance to give
I'm not holding back, not holding back
~My Brightest Diamond, song: "Another Chance"
How to bridge a difference between a design and its actual realization in the world?
You've seen it many a time, I'm sure, the slow wreckage of some grand aspiration sinking under its own weight, or sputtering to a decidedly mixed
outcome... .
Sometimes though, sometimes overcoming the odds and showering unequalled pleasure on all involved, one hits that fine mark, pushes that Sisyphean stone
over the top, vanquishes the listless pull of gravity and explodes into the stratosphere in the most satisfying spectacular display of what's possible.
This happy result, without false modesty, is what happened with our latest Boston-area painting exhibition this February.
One of my recent paintings in the Brickbottom Gallery exhibition:
Philip Gerstein, "Trying to Look Casual", 18 x 18 in. (42 x 42 cm),
Oil stick, acrylic, lacquer, glitter, & mixed textural media on wood panel, 2021
It all started with an unorthodox concept:
(TITLE:) Space <--> Color <--> Movement: Lyrical Realism
into Poetic Abstraction.
Three dedicated painters -- a lyrical realist and two color abstractionists, friends and allies in real life -- were to inter-hang their work in trios. The intricately designed
proposal envisioned the paintings in each trio enmeshing and flowing into each other, or sparking on contact in unexpected contrast -- and in the process revealing
hidden facets, the nuances of construction, of color, texture, composition, mood -- emitting their inner vibration.
However good the design (and the design was most unusual), it hardly guaranteed an equally good execution. My previous Scene4 feature, for February 2022 described at length my initial Proposal for this show. Now that the show was up, it
was time for Proof of Concept:
At exhibition's entrance, l-r, Philip Gerstein: "Metamorphoses", 40 x 30 in. (102 x 76 cm);
Jo Ann Rothschild: "8-19-2020", 30 x 24 in. (76 x 61 cm);
Alexandra Rozenman: "Diving into Modernism (from a Russian Village)", 40 x 60 in. (102 x 152 cm)
What's the word for exceeding expectations? Ahh, how about: it worked spectacularly well!
The actual show features, to borrow musical notation, 7 trios, 1 duet, and 4 solos.
It is fresh, sparkling, humorous and serious at the same time, and it blooms with enough color to wake up Boston from its two-year slumber long before the coming of
the New England Spring. The exhibition is accompanied by Zooms, sales, and an improvisational jazz performance of the highest caliber (a trio, naturally) at the
closing reception, as February itself comes to a close.
Installation shot. (Near right:) Jo Ann Rothschild:
"Then This", 84 x 66 in. (213 x 168 cm)
Installation shot, l.-to-r.: Philip Gerstein: "Find Your Passion", 30 x 40 in. (76 x 102 cm);
Jo Ann Rothschild: "When My Parents Were Alive", 25 x 30 in. (64 x 76 cm);
Alexandra Rozenman: "Meeting Frida at the Mexican Border", 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91 cm)
At the Opening Reception. On wall l-r:
Alexandra Rozenman: "Frying Eggs for Francis Bacon", 50 x 52 in. (127 x 132 cm)
Jo Ann Rothschild: "The Trip", 94 x 112 in. (239 x 284 cm);
Philip Gerstein: "Extreme Butoh", 36 x 36 in. (91 x 91 cm)
At exhibition's entrance.
Alexandra Rozenman: "Two Beasts", 58 x 60 in. (147 x 132 cm)
For all who witnessed it, this exhibition will leave a bright contrail across the snowy Boston skies, for a long time to come.
|
