Renewing your faith in painting

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 17:25:00 +0000

What can contemporary abstract painting tell us about the medium today, and why does it continue to stir the soul? To answer these questions, artist Kara Rooney, the curator of Material Tak at Panepinto Galleries, selected five painters who range in age, professional experience and formal approach. Artists include Mark Dagely, Kati Vilim, Jsun Laliberte, Peter Fox and Anne Sherwood Pundyk. The result is an invigorating exhibition, with some knockout paintings. I did not want to leave the gallery and I cannot remember the last time I had that feeling.

Before I discuss the show, I want to share an anecdote. As a kid in suburban Jersey, I loved visiting my relatives in Jersey City. I did not so much love my relatives, as I loved the drive. The NJ Turnpike was our route. There was so much to see and look at from the backseat and passenger-side window of my parent’s Dodge Dart — chemical refineries, smokestacks billowing toxic plumes, Newark Airport, freight trains covered in graffiti, cargo cranes, the Twin Towers rising from the Manhattan skyline and lights, so many flashing lights. This experience — a smorgasbord of visual sensations — was so at odds with my usual surroundings: the planned residential housing developments, bland, uniform, cookie-cutter. The only word that I can think of to describe my experience is invigorating.

Salon.com > Brendan S. Carroll

Renewing your faith in painting