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New York Sublime; an exhibition of landscapes of the Hudson Valley and above (Washington County) will open at the Carrie Haddad Gallery. The exhibit was inspired by a visit to the Tate Gallery in London where the traveling exhibition "American Sublime" was on view. Recognizing that the majority of paintings were from NY State, Haddad decided to alter the title and feature four contemporary gallery artists who have captured New York State's sublime vistas. The show runs from November 14th to December 22nd with a reception for the artists on November 16th from 6-8pm.
In recent years, the revival of interest in landscape painting among contemporary artists has met with a warm reception from the general public and serious collectors. Landscape painting has become popular not because it is derivative or harkens back to nineteenth-century tradition. Rather, its strength lies in the personal vision of each artist.
Gallery director Carrie Haddad is much aware of the influence the upstate terrain has on area artists, postulating that the natural beauty of the river valley invariably has an impact upon the receptive and the creative. "New York Sublime" pointedly explores and develops such impact with the works of Harry Orlyk, Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Scott Balfe, and Catherine Nugent. The works of these artists invite the viewers to reach back into their own collective memory of journeys into the luminous mountains, colorful valleys and winding roads of rural New York State.
Inspired by the glowing light of the Hudson Valley, Jane Bloodgood-Abrams aims to bring the landscape to a spiritual level. "Painting is an act of spiritual rejuvenation for me because those times when I have felt most 'holy' have been in nature. My painting," Bloodgood continues, "is my response to those particular moments and are created through my quest for a more intimate union with the land. Through painting nature, I seek to connect with something beyond everyday life. Landscape painting becomes my tool for conveying the essence and mystery of nature." Bloodgood has been exhibiting at Carrie Haddad Gallery for twelve years and lives in Kingston, NY.
Working out of the back of his van, Harry Orlyk records the landscape around his home in Salem, NY, and in doing so offers a journey into the serenity of the American countryside. Unromanticized and unsentimentalized, Orlyk's intimate oil painting are straightforward and easily accessible. Although Orlyk's scenery is usually specific to an area within a forty-mile radius of his home, it is nevertheless universally familiar, in part because this scenery is still a reality in many regions of our country and because it is so deeply ingrained in our past. Harry Orlyk's vision, however, is very much his own. He defines subject matter with an abundance of subtle color, giving us a chance to experience his rural world and savor its fragile existence.
The New York Sublime exhibit also includes the work of two new artists; Catherine Nugent and Scott Balfe. Both artist's work in a small format. Nugent's style is loose and modern while Balfe's work emulates Albert Bierstadt in its subject, palette and varnish.
Showing concurrently in the Upstairs Photography Gallery are the works of Peter Kelly.
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