Douglas Witmer
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Friday, August 03, 2007
gallery siano exhibition reviewed
Cloud Cover paintings, 2007. Black gesso and acrylic on canvas. Installation view at University of Maryland. (They are in a "salon-style" configuration currently at Gallery Siano...no photo unfortunately.)
Today's Philadelphia Inquirer includes a review of "Summary, 2007," the current group show at Gallery Siano that features my work, and mentions my work specifically. I'm represented by four "Cloud Cover" paintings that I debuted at the University of Maryland earlier this spring. The show has been extended until August 18, by the way. The full review is below.
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Summery summary
by Edith Newhall
At some point in the near future, I'm sure Gallery Siano will begin to hew to a particular aesthetic, as it has already taken tentative steps toward doing. For the time being, though, there is its summer show, "Survey," a bright, good-natured three-ring circus that wants to be appreciated by everyone.
There's plenty to like in this show of mostly paintings. Of the painters working in various modes of abstraction - and who number 18 among the show's 27 artists - Jon Manteau is a scene-stealer with his "Template" of housepaint applied every which way to a large rectangle of plywood. Robert Goodman is no wallflower either, slashing circular strokes of vivid colors around an ovoid of yellow. On the gentler side, Donna Usher's paintings of floating, candy-colored, bubble-like shapes stem from images envisioned while meditating.
Siano also seems to have a predilection for hard-edged geometric work, the most interesting examples of which include Douglas Witmer's modestly scaled paintings of floating bars of color on grayish fields, and Alex Paik's partly obscured alphabet letters on matte pastel backgrounds.
Among the more representational paintings that stand out are Miriam Singer's composition of streets and houses in a loose grid that can be read as an aerial view, a filmic series of views, or diaristic notations of travel through a city, and Rebecca Saylor Sack's winsome gestural, semi-abstracted landscape.
Gallery Siano, 309 Arch St., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. 215-629-2940 or www.gallerysiano.com. EXHIBITION EXTENDED THROUGH AUGUST 18.
Labels: critical reviews, exhibitions
3.8.07 