Properties of Illusion in the Candy Store
April 30- May 29, 2022
ARTISTS: Ellen Harvey, Suzanne Unrein, Vittoria Chierici, David Scher, Polly Shindler, David Soman, Kirstin Lamb, Stefan Saffer, Suzy Spence, Mary Ann Strandell, Emily Andrews, Danielle Klebes, Jenny Laden, Lowell Boyers, Lynn McCarty, Dave Bradford, Ruby Silvious and others
“The art of a great painting is not in any one idea, …but in the great network of relationships among its parts... What counts is what we make of them.” ― Marvin Minsky, from The Society of Mind
As painting is a direct communication for viewers’ consumption, “Properties of Illusion in the Candy Store” is a feast of visual delight. The exhibition references the range and power of painting as an artistic practice to express ideas and emotions with certain aesthetic qualities in a two-dimensional visual language. Painting captures a moment, that creates a feeling of a visual experience. A view with a message, an illusion is what the artist has created to connect to characteristics of the perceiver. Artworks are visual doors open for us to find properties within a field of carefully placed possibilities and thoughts. What makes us stop, look and discover? How do we match the painted illusion with our vast internal image bank? How do we navigate paintings to find our path of understanding or emotional journey?
Often an artistic journey begins for an artist in a personal space of exploration where a thought process evolves as a raw material of ideas. The individual painting style is a developed “voice” reduced to brushstroke, pigments choices, or gesture, engaging in a dialogue based in a language; figurative, conceptual, abstract, expressionism, documentary, narrative, or surrealism all depending on the artists’ communication. The goal is to capture a moment in time to depict an expressed thought.
“Properties of Illusion in the Candy Store” is an open invitation to explore the range of artists and styles – to find the magic. From dark intensity to bright and cheerful, the artists provide a spectrum of sensory experience for the viewer to process. Each painting is a path, a journey, or a quest. Unlike candy a great painting does not just provide a short sugar boost but it can refresh our system of believe and observation in reoccurring boosts of discovery and renewal.
