three solo exhibitions of new paintings by kate long stevenson, jeffrey reed and sherrie wolf are opening this week at the gallery. the exhibitions will be on view through june 21st. abstract, landscape and still life paintings all shown together in harmony. we love nothing more than artists exhibiting together who have completely different styles and techniques to see their different approach to a canvas. kate long stevenson lets music flow through her and guide her abstract compositions small and large. jeffrey reed’s en plain air landscape paintings are dependant on the weather and their limited scale provides a small glimpse into the every changing atmosphere. long time gallery artist sherrie wolf once again combines art history references in the background of her elegantly arranged still life paintings using her scrumptious rich palette.
a native of greensboro, north carolina, kate long stevenson began her artistic career while a student at the university of the south. as an abstract expressionist, kate loves to explore the push/pull of boldness and quiet femininity. the female figure has long been her primary study, but is now less a subject than an introduction to the harmonious tension of her abstracts. the creative process begins with an energetic, uninhibited rendering of either the figure or simply the movement she feels from inspiring music. what follows is a very deliberate layering of gestural brushwork to harness that initial freedom into something balanced.
“quiet, please seems counterintuitive, given the energy reverberating from the paintings, but creating this work was an almost meditative act. the majority of the canvases were repurposed, allowing for more translucent layers atop already rich surfaces, and it was the process of both quieting previous markings and discovering new ones that gave the show its name. the gestural brushstrokes and bolder colors are both simple and complex, understated and stimulated. this body of work also marks a return to translating music to the canvas. two tracks in particular inspired the generally right to left composition: “recomposed by max richter: vivaldi — the four seasons: spring” and phantogram’s “when i’m small”.”
jeffrey reed received his mfa at the university of pennsylvania and his bfa at the maryland institute of art. he was granted a fellowship and residency at the ballinglen arts foundation, ballycastle, county mayo, ireland. reed has mastered the art of handling light and atmosphere within his delicate, lyrical compositions. when he is painting on site he feel a connection with the familiar and a sense of discovery at the same time. he paints in the same locations multiple times allowing him to focus on changes in the light and atmosphere. typically reed works outside for two to three hours on a painting until he get the essence of a particular landscape. then back in the studio, the work is focused on developing the forms and trying to resolve the design of the painting. reed has been a professor of art at the community college of philadelphia since 1986.
“as an artist it is difficult to say exactly what it is i am doing, or perhaps better said, i never know how a painting will turn out. i start a painting with an idea based on direct observation. in my immediate surroundings, i look for a visual spark along with a personal connection to a subject to get me started. in the past couple of years i have found myself wanting to spend more time with my subjects, wanting to understand their forms better. ironically i have also been spending more time working on the paintings away from the subjects, moving elements around in pursuit of a visual dynamic. it feels like a juggling act between observing and inventing that leads to the images. i am more interested in the evocative than the literal and perhaps that pursuit is what painting has been for me recently. ”
sherrie wolf was born in portland, oregon in 1952 where she resides and paints today. wolf received a bfa in painting at the museum art school, pacific northwest college of art and went on to study art at the chelsea college of art, london, england earning a ma in printmaking. she uses the classic paintings by old masters as a backdrop for her own still life compositions. sherrie arranges fresh fruit and flowers in the foreground and allows the older paintings to hover behind. "I have always been a still-life painter. my images openly play with the fact that art is artifice. in recent years, i have arranged objects in front of excerpts from old master paintings. earlier in my career, while imitating 19th century american trompe l’oil and 17th century dutch still-life traditions in subject matter and formal elements of composition, i explored contrived or discovered relationships between seemingly unrelated objects. mirrors or other formal objects often reflected the contemporary clutter of my studio. light, shadow and three-dimensional spatial relationships played important roles, and i often used nontraditional perspectives, such as looking straight down on the still life arrangement. among the subject matter, there would be an open book or a card portraying an image from a historical painting. in time, these excerpts became more prominent, and eventually i filled the entire background with a quotation from an old master painting. this connected me to a history of reinterpretation and artistic borrowing prevalent among artists. my images have evolved from a love of art history and a desire to present multiple levels of expression to my viewer."
“this latest series of paintings emerged from a passion for the history of animal painters. i have included background references with my interpretations of one of the earliest known animalier painters, the flemish artist franz snyders. in his 17th century series call “the concert”, i can hear the art of song as the birds sing. snyders was known for collaborating with fellow artists to create a menagerie of various bird species collaged in a natural environment, somewhat arbitrarily, like my own fantasy collages of nature’s beauty utilizing the splendor of spring tulips to heighten the visual experience. my contemporary still-life compositions create imagined collaborative narratives.
the foreground still-life objects provide connections, as in a plate reflecting elements from the background. a blue marble adds a note of color from the sky and an object to anchor the composition, which includes reflections of my own contemporary studio. the marble also suggests the earth as a circle of balanced symmetry and unity.”
all available work by each artist can be viewed on our website under their individual tabs including sizing + pricing. hidell brooks gallery is by appointment. please call the gallery if you have any further questions.