Wednesday, April 28, 2010

City Gallery Presents Light and Allusion

“Light and Allusion” Nancy Donnelly and Jill Finsen
 Opening reception: Saturday, May 1, 6:00–9:00 PM

City Gallery’s May exhibition “Light and Allusion” showcases Nancy Donnelly’s elegant glass art and Jill Finsen’s whimsically primitive paintings executed in oil paint.

The opening reception with the artists is Saturday, May 1, 6:00–9:00 PM. The public is invited to attend.

Fascination with color is apparent in the work of both these artists. These pieces sing out - they raise the possibility that good humor can be engendered by color alone. Allusive of the natural world, they are at the same time direct and accessible. Surface is paramount to the success of these art pieces—the smoothness of the glass contrasts with layered textures in the paintings. The colors of glass and paintings complement each other and pull the exhibit in new and exciting visual directions. Both artists find negative space crucial to this effect, moments of rest that energize each work. Donnelly and Finsen’s works provide tension between familiarity and abstraction and at the same time question placement within imagined space.

Having read deeply in anthropological literature, Donnelly is convinced that the images that keep our attention, images we keep coming back to again and again, strike toward our common basis in ancient humanity—images of nature, of our creativity, of striving, and of community.

With allusions to the works of early 20th century American painters and the Fauvists, Finsen’s paintings are a journey, from representation to abstraction and from visible hues and shapes to more psychologically charged compositions.

The exhibit runs through May 29.

City Gallery
804 H Street, NE #1
Washington, DC 20002

No comments:

Post a Comment