| . |
Like most Romantic landscapers, Mr. Thompson is
stimulated by bad weather - or so it seems when the picture is considered with the handsome but relatively tacit study
of the river reddened by a sunset.
The artist instinct for light serve him well.”
The painting is of the Hudson river between Hudson and Athens, New York with the Catskill mountains in
the distance. The panorama is seen from Parade Hill. This cliff or bluff overlooking the river at the foot of the city
of Hudson’s main street was deeded to the town in 1795 for a “public walk” by the “proprietors” who
purchased the land and first settled Hudson. Near by is a statue, the gift of General John Watts de
Peyster,
the last patroon of the Lower Claverack manor.
This is a place which has been inspirational for a long time.
The Hudson/Athens lighthouse, a substantial Victorian brick house and light tower marking the channel in
the middle of the river, is dwarfed by the immensity of it’s setting. The trees on the right that form the
wonderful block of darkness reflected in the water grow on a long narrow island between Athens and Hudson.
Parade Hill is only a short distance from the artist’s studio.
He has spent a great of time there watching the river, mountains, and clouds in the changing light of all the seasons
and times of day. This painting depicts sunset in the early spring.
“ I have tried to get the feeling of immense space,” says Thompson, “ and some of the peace and
fulfillment
I’ve felt at Parade Hill into the painting.”
....Exuberant color explodes in
Steven Poser’s recent works at the Carrie
Haddad Gallery.
These paintings show an evolution in style and technique over a very productive four-year period of
work
for Mr. Poser. His appreciation of “Cubism” in this current series of gouache on paper is
inspired by the
compositions of Braque and explores the twisting and bending of pictorial space.
Trained as a psychoanalyst, Steven Poser followed his interest in the art of the tribal peoples
of
Oceania-Australia. Both disciplines have deeply influenced the subject matter of his semi-abstract
works.
“All of my images are fundamentally a kind of self-portrait projected onto a mythological
stage,” says Poser.
“Although unpremeditated and freely evoked out of random marks, I use the image-making process to
explore areas of emotional importance to me.
” As a student of both primitive art and psychoanalysis, Poser finds himself naturally attuned
to the primal,
non-verbal, imagistic, and essentially not-rational modes of connection - to alien
mentalities and to his own
unconscious fantasies and impulses.
We might as well add here that Poser has recently spent two years as a therapist to chronic
schizophrenic
patients in the locked wards of a nearby state psychiatric hospital and this has undoubtedly
made an impact
on his mind and work. Technically, Poser is self-taught and experiments continuously with
both traditional
and unorthodox ways of handling paint, color, drawing, and composition.
He works flat and from all four sides. Most of the images have evolved through a process of
reaction
to superseded images on the paper or canvas. Poser uses his fingers and rags as well as
brushes.
“I want my images to have a holding power on both the eye and the mind,” says Poser.
“They are not ironic, but, ideally, expressive of authentic feeling.”
Steven Poser is also a graduate of the Whitney Museum Independent study program and has
exhibited
his paintings from 1985 to the present in New York City and the Hudson Valley.
....After 30 years of immersing himself in the high-stress world of the
NYC stock market,
John Greene began a second career as an artist.
Leaving just before the fateful Black Monday of October 1987, Greene promptly
turned his attentions
to his long-time hobby, art, and registered for classes at the National Academy of Art and
Design in
New York City. After two years at the academy, he took classes at the Sculpture Center before
venturing out on his own.
“I figured I could learn forever or take the risk to get a studio and see if I could do it on
my own,”
says the artist.
Now, 14 years later, John Greene seems quite content with his life.
He has received recognition for his work and exhibits at several galleries. Much of his contentment
may be due to his very supportive and encouraging wife, Gwen.
The two spend much of their time in a lovely rambling house in Gallatin, Columbia County where
Gwen gardens and John cooks gourmet meals.
John’s large studio is filled with current works ready to hang in his upcoming show
at Carrie Haddad Gallery. More of his pieces hang throughout the cedar house giving notice to the
various styles of work he has accomplished; representational paintings, sculpture, figures,
assemblages.
A consistent attribute in all of the work is a textured and lively surface.
“My painting is about surface, primarily,” says the artist, “surface is feeling and can be
ambivalent.
It can give the illusion of depth and reflection, of time and memory and complexity.”
Greene tries to introduce elements either hidden or apparent, that will encourage “reading” the painting
many times and allow the viewer to constantly discover something new in the work.
Towards this end, the artist uses different materials such as copper or lead,
which change continually
over time. “I especially like beeswax,” says Greene, “which in many ways is just the
opposite in terms
of its durability and permanence, and for its wonderful ability to be opaque or transparent.”
John Greene is diligent about his craft, but also spends time traveling.
An earlier series of paintings was inspired by a trip to the Southwest and an introduction to Navajo
chieftain blankets.
Later, his series of “Kiva” paintings would appear; also an inspiration from the Southwest and the
Native American Indian holy places the work is titled after.
“I am drawn to this image as a source from which we emerge and to which we inevitably
return,”
says the artist.
“With the portals in my landscapes, I try to imply crossroads, paths taken and not
taken,
suggestions and intimations of the past and the future.”
Another favorite series in Greene’s art repertoire is the Saltboxes. Saltboxes have been an ongoing
theme in Greene’s work; painted, carved, and collaged in a variety of sizes
and mediums like a healing
mantra that keeps his creative energies focused.
Some of Greene’s current landscape work is the most impressive.
There are large 4 x 6 foot canvases that create an interesting dichotomy of place.
The pristinely manicured country hillsides are depicted with layers of thick paint and wax.
The primordial effect of the color and texture challenge the superficial human elements in the
landscape.
In addition to Greene’s canvases, he has devised a unique three dimensional painting format that hangs
perpendicular to the wall, and allows us to enjoy a different portion of the
painting from each side.
These are a must see.
....James Bleecker
Photographs capture the moment. Or do they?
In his landscape photographs of upstate New York, James Bleecker mergers elements from exposures
made at different times of day. These idealized visions explore the possibilities of digital imaging
technology
while resonating with the grandeur of 19th century Hudson River School paintings.
Commissioned early in his career to interpret the Hudson Valley landscapes that had
inspired Cole and
Church, Bleecker took a romantic approach. His images reveled in the thunderstorms and ethereal blue
Catskill light praised by artists and poets since Washington Irving.
The advent of the digital darkroom provided him a means to seamlessly combine
elements from numerous
views--essentially updating the studio technique of 19th-century landscape painters.
Bleecker’s historically resonant treatment has attracted patronage from the fields of
historic preservation
and land conservation. He has photographed Adirondack hamlets for The Adirondack Park, a Fifth Avenue
town house for The Frick Collection, historic sites along the Hudson for Historic Hudson Valley, and farms
for American Farmland Trust.
Seldom straying beyond his native state for subject mater, Bleecker makes his home in
New York’s
Greenwich Village - near the street which bisected fir farm of his Dutch ancestors.
He is a graduate of Rhode Island School for Design and a recipient of the RISD/Bernstein Award
for
Excellence & Technique.
Bleecker makes his exposures on medium or large-format film, which
is then scanned into a computer.
Working in Photoshop, he builds his images from two or more original exposures,
selecting highlight
detail from one exposure and shadow detail from another.
This technique expands the picture’s contrast range beyond that of traditional film, allowing for richer
shadows and more luminous skies.
Images are often several months in gestation, with dozens of proofs reviewed and revised
before the first
full-scale print is made. Bleecker allows only a limited edition of Iris prints to be
made from a digital file.
The Carrie Haddad Gallery is located at:
622 Warren Street in Hudson, NY.12534
Please call (518) 828-1915 for directions, more information or
visit our Contact Page for detailed Maps.
|
