Well, my 2-person exhibition wrapped up last weekend at Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, NJ.  But the art goes on!  This month, I have four paintings hanging:  Change Over Time, Passages, Center of Narrative Gravity #6, and Emergent Materialism #1.

Change Over Time, acrylic on panel, 24x24

Passages, acrylic on panel, 24x24

Center of Narrative Gravity #6, acrylic on panel, 20x20

Emergent Materialism #1, acrylic on panel, 30x24

This month, Michael Schweigart and Norine Kevolic are featured at the gallery in Meditations on Nature, and it promises to be a fantastic exhibition.  The opening reception is on Saturday, May 14, from 5-8pm.

September is traditionally the start of the new art season and this month I’ll have two new paintings up (along with three older ones) at Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, NJ.

The Explanatory Gap is a tough one to capture in a photograph: what you see will vary depending upon the lighting and the angle with which you view the painting.  From one angle, you’ll see a golden curvy mesh (Turing Pattern style); from another, a different scale of marks and contrasts will appear in blues, grays, and greens.

The Explanatory Gap, acrylic/panel, 24x24

Also up this month (once I get around to hanging it later today) is Center of Narrative Gravity #4.

Center of Narrative Gravity #4, acrylic/panel, 24x24

The opening reception for this month’s show, featuring artists John Treichler and Richard Harrington and “New Jersey Blues”, is Saturday, September 11, from 6-9pm.

Also, a quick reminder that tomorrow (Sunday, September 12, 2010) is the artist reception for the Absolutely Abstract show at the Philadelphia Sketch Club (235 S. Camac St, Philadelphia, PA), from 2-4pm.  The show is only up through September 14, so this is sort of a “closing reception”.  My painting, Connections, is included in this large assortment of abstract art.

This month I have just one painting on display at Artists’ Gallery, but it’s a favorite one that I haven’t exhibited in quite some time:

Journey, acrylic on canvas, 36x36

This month’s exhibition is up through August 1, 2010, and the opening reception for the featured artists (Carol Sanzalone and Alla Podolsky) is this Saturday, July 10, from 4-7 pm.  Gallery hours are Fri-Sat-Sun 11am-6pm and the gallery is located at 18 Bridge St, Lambertville, NJ 08530.

The painting Change Over Time consists of approximately a dozen layers of marks interspersed with a dozen layers of thinly tinted glaze, creating both physical and optical depth.  The glazing layers contain a mixture of charcoal and “interference” pigments, so that the painting appears to have both coarse texture as well as a very smooth, glossy overall finish.

This piece is on display this month (June 2010) at Artists’ Gallery and will be up through July 4, 2010.

Change Over Time, acrylic and charcoal on panel, 24x24

This month at Artists’ Gallery I’m exhibiting six paintings, including these two “corner canvases”.  The canvas is beveled so that the painting hangs snugly in corners (they also can be hung flat against the wall).  This show is up through July 4, 2010, and the gallery’s hours are Fri-Sat-Sun from 11am-6pm (18 Bridge St, Lambertville, NJ).

Both Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 24x12 in.

Late last year I finished this painting, Time’s Texture, which is now on display at Artists’ Gallery in my 2-person show with Charles Katzenbach.  The show is up through May 2 and the gallery is open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 11am-6pm, or by appointment.  I’ll be at the gallery this Saturday, April 17, from 11am-6pm if you’d like to stop by and say Hi.

Time's Texture, acrylic on panel, 36 x 24

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Paintings by Charles Katzenbach and Andrew Werth

Art Exhibit:  April 9 – May 2, 2010
Opening Reception:  Saturday, April 10, 2010, 6-9pm

Lambertville, NJ, March 11, 2010 – Reflections, an exhibition of colorful, eye-catching abstract paintings by Charles Katzenbach and Andrew Werth, will be on display at Artists’ Gallery from Friday, April 9, through Sunday, May 2, 2010. A reception with the artists will be held at the gallery’s new location (18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, NJ) from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. on April’s “Second Saturday,” April 10, 2010.

In Reflections, Katzenbach and Werth offer viewers a variety of visual experiences through the manipulation of paint, pattern, and surface.  As you walk around the gallery, paintings change their appearance depending upon where you stand.  In Katzenbach’s oil paintings on glass and mirrors, your angle of view determines which planes of color are revealed and which are hidden, with reflections from one layer interacting with the paint on another.  Werth’s acrylic paintings make use of thousands of hand-painted marks of color that the eye integrates differently depending upon how far back you stand from the work.  In addition, some works include reflective and pearlescent pigments whose appearance changes as you walk from left to right.

Reflection also refers to a type of symmetry used by both artists in this exhibition.  Katzenbach’s Disorderly Colors, for instance, is reflectively symmetrical in its design both vertically and horizontally, though as the title suggests, not in its dramatic use of color.  Werth’s Conceptual Framework has a diagonal reflective symmetry in its geometry, a tessellation of patterns that include rotation and translation as well as reflection.

In addition to these literal reflections, both artists encourage viewers to consider reflections of a more metaphorical kind.  Katzenbach has long been fascinated with Tibetan mandalas and the deeply spiritual and symbolic Sri Yantra. Werth’s paintings are often about how our embodied minds make sense of the world and are inspired by his interest in philosophy and cognitive science.

Charles Katzenbach studied art both at Princeton University with painter Esteban Vincente and master potter Toshiko Takaezu and then at the New York Studio School.  He was featured in New Art International 2004 and has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the Northeast.  Katzenbach lives in Hopewell, NJ.

Andrew Werth received degrees in Computer Engineering and Information Networking from Carnegie Mellon University and has studied art at various schools in New York City including The Arts Students League, The School of Visual Arts, and The New School. His paintings have been exhibited at many tri-state venues from Philadelphia through Hudson, NY.  Werth lives in West Windsor, NJ.

About the Gallery:  Artists’ Gallery is now located at 18 Bridge Street in the heart of historic Lambertville, NJ. The gallery is open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. and by appointment. For more information, visit www.lambertvillearts.com.

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April 9 - May 2, 2010 (reception Saturday, April 10, 6-9pm)

One month from today is the opening reception for Reflections, my next two-person show with Charles Katzenbach at Artists’ Gallery.  The show runs from April 9 through May 2 with the reception on Saturday, April 10, from 6-9pm.  Artists’ Gallery is now located at 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, NJ 08530.

Center of Narrative Gravity, acrylic on panel, 12x12

I recently finished this painting, entitled Center of Narrative Gravity.  The title comes from a metaphor used by philosopher Daniel Dennett in describing The Self in his book Consciousness Explained (and elsewhere).

I’ve recently been reading Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates and one of the first essays (about whether food can be art — do not read late at night on an empty stomach!) mentions how philosophers can discuss the ontological status of a work of art (what kind of thing it is), and in particular used Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata as an example.  The art is not the sheet music it was originally written on, nor is it a particular performance (there are many of those, they also include interpretation).  One can spend a lot of time figuring out the philosophical distinctions of what is and isn’t art (though that can be fun, too; for instance, see here).  I thought that the subject called for a painting and while the title is a mouthful, making it was mindful.

Ontological Status of a Moonlight Sonata, 24 x 18

I recently finished the following painting, Contemplation, a small piece on panel.

Contemplation, acrylic on panel, 14x11 inches, 2010