Betty Cuningham Gallery Opens PAINT Exhibition Today

On Thursday, January 10th, Betty Cuningham Gallery will open a group exhibition titled PAINT which will include paintings and works on paper by ten artists: William Bailey, David Bates, Jake Berthot, Charles Garabedian, Judy Glantzman, John Lees, Stanley Lewis, Gordon Moore, David Reed, and John Walker. The gallery will host an opening reception for the artists today, January 10, 6-8pm.

In this exhibition the single common element is PAINT and from that point forward each artist delivers his or her own distinct vocabulary. Charles Garabedian and William Bailey give us their personal, imaginary visions, while Stanley Lewis builds his canvas on site, tightly adhering to an empirical view. David Reed concentrates on the message of the brush mark, both in terms of time and length, while Gordon Moore unites his fragmented spaces with both determined and casual lines.

A few of the artists, particularly William Bailey, Judy Glantzman and David Bates, quote earlier Masters (i.e. the weight of Courbet, the expression of Goya and the muscularity of Hartley respectively). The quotes acknowledge their respect for the Masters and become a foundation to express their own private worlds. Jake Berthot, John Lees and John Walker acknowledge the history that precedes them but free themselves from the particular, each in a different way, and straddle the distinction between abstraction and representation.

Like music, the language of painting crosses national borders, is shared by common perception and challenges us to follow the route being paved by each artist.

The current exhibition includes seven artists from the gallery along with three guest artists: Stanley Lewis, David Reed and John Walker.

Artwork: John Walker - Looking Out to Sea II, 2012, 84 x 66 inches