Trialogue I : Jackson Dembar, Ruth Edwy & Suzanne Rees
It can be argued that Abstract Painting is the most representational of all painting expressions because the subject matter is not a response to the outside world but literally the reality of paint itself. Jackson Dembar, Ruth Edwy and Suzanne Rees explore the dynamism and reality of paint in this group show: Trialogue I.
These area artists have long lived and worked in New York State and their commitment to painting has largely been outside mainstream art marketplaces. For decades, these three have been committed to the goal of painting for its own sake. The result is work that is about a pure and personal vision expressed in color, form and light. “Trialogue I” is co-curated by Alan Goolman and Jen Dragon.
About the Artists:
Jackson Dembar: Although he holds an MBA from Wharton, Jackson Dembar soon found that success in business paled in comparison to the experience of painting. Mr. Dembar’s decades as an artist covers an exhaustive range of materials united by a common theme of light, color, form, surface and passion. The painter says about his work: “I am the paint” and in essence, each painting is a self-portrait. He further writes: “Art is not about pleasing the potential buyer. It is about producing something new, communicative, vital, in that it can hit the viewer in the gut and allow them to see something they have never seen before. It is about going a step further in art history, showing understanding of life, the world around us, the times we live in.”
Ruth Edwy: Ruth Edwy (BFA, MFA Pratt) has been painting in her studio in the Catskills since 1972. Her atmospheric surfaces are often punctuated by geometric edges creating a spatial tension between what is permanent and impermanent. Ms. Edwy writes: “When I begin a painting, I don’t always have a particular idea or emotion that I want to express. Rather, I have the need to paint, per se, and from the act itself–the physical gesture, the movement of the brush on the canvas, the color and shape and line that begin to come from my hand and body–the painting begins to emerge as a coherent entity.”
Suzanne Rees: Suzanne Rees (BFA Parsons, MFA Maryland Institute College of Art) approaches painting as a sculptor in that the illusion of material space is her starting point. Allowing the marks to determine the forms, each painting becomes a study of density and atmosphere, of weight and balance. Ms. Rees says: “I like to keep my work on the edge of representation with regards to space, as well as image. Light is the element that punctuates the work for me. From flat space I like to see moments of dimension materialize. They feel hyper-real. I’m looking for the quality of a dream in which objects, space and people are infused with an emotional meaning, amplified beyond what is experienced in everyday life.”
“Trialogue I: Paintings by Jackson Dembar, Ruth Edwy & Suzanne Rees” opens Februry 6 and continues through February 28th, 2016
