Lace Mill Show reflections
The show is down. The paintings and the colors, shapes and ideas contained within them are packed away, returned to their quiet potential. The wondrous Lace Mill Gallery and its magical machine await the next artist and their work.
47 of my paintings hung for a month at Lace; my first solo show in years. The art and the space worked well together and I had the freedom to present my vision of how it should hang unfettered by the gallery restrictions. My goal was to blend an interactive and a museum experience. Each painting was given a synopsis and a poem to create a connection between word and image and enrich the experience beyond simply looking. My work is designed to draw a viewer into its mysteries, give a sense of discovery, and stimulate conversation.
The ideal objective for me as an artist is to excite the mind and heart and fill the spirit with a sense of wonder.
Art has the power to inspire and inform; to shape the ethos of the times and inspire us with insights into the human condition and into the issues that confront us. Art is most powerful when experienced live and in a community setting where reaction and enjoyment is shared.
Experienced remotely on our devices, however, art loses nearly all its power as we scroll away on tiny screens. We lose the richness of spatial, aural, interpersonal, energetic, spiritual, and temporal aspects of seeing works in the flesh. Standing in front of a 78" x 60" painting hung on a brick wall has an impact that is completely lost when this same painting shows up as 3.25" x 2.5 " in my phone; reduced to a postage stamp stripped of its power. In the lace show, a visitor could luxuriate in the color, the textures, and the dimensionality of an image, perhaps while talking about it with a friend or surrounded by the din of the train that passes often behind the old factory. There is a history in the walls of that space that echoes off the brick, the lighting giving a 'buttery' quality to the imagery. A screen simply cannot recreate these sensations.
Physical shows have no 'community guidelines' to restrict discussion and ideas flow easily with no risk of being cancelled. As humans encounter the intellectual, ideological and spiritual possibilities in art we respond and we interact. As an alternative to life lived on-screen, real experiences keep us healthy and happy, real art keeps us engaged and creative, and real art encounters are inherently social acts that allow us to share our experience. Art is good for us.
The Lace exhibition was the best experience I could have hoped to contribute, as an artist, to the community.
Epilogue: It was a blessing to have paintings up on the walls at the Lace Mill gallery. I am honored by the guests who came to see the work and am pleased people enjoyed themselves and came away left inspired. I thank all the guests, The Lace mill director James Martin, and Rupco Inc. for fixing up an old gem to provide an amazing space for artists.
For those who may be interested, I currently have another exhibit where I am paired with one of the original surrealists named Kurt Seligmann in Montgomery, NY that will be up through the month of April. Information on the location, etc. is here. I have two works on display in the West gallery at the Lace Mill (again) along with the amazing works of Doug Maguire (In the main gallery) with an opening this Saturday from 5-9. More info here.
Quietly, she meditates on the man in the frame. Who is as real as smudges on a page. Humanity drawn out by scratches. Life captured in black. She felt alive, peering into the secrets in his face. She was as real as the scratches in her mind.
It was a first rate, mind-blowing exhibition. Congratulations, darling!