Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art presents
“Ah, Wilderness!”
Works by Susan Klein, Jean Blackburn and Joe Segal
February 5-March 1 Ÿ Opening Reception is February 5
This exhibit celebrates nature with powerful works by Florida-based artists Susan Klein, Jean Blackburn, and Joe Segal.
(Sarasota, FL) Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art gallery presents “Ah, Wilderness!,” an exhibition showcasing works by landscape painter Susan Klein, painter, printmaker, photographer and naturalist Jean Blackburn and sculptor Joe Segal, February 5-March 1. The artist’s reception is Friday, February 5, 6-8 p.m. The gallery is at 1288 N. Palm Ave., in Sarasota. For more information about this exhibit, call 941-366-2454 or visit www.allyngallup.com.
Susan J. Klein is critically celebrated for her vibrant, acrylic paintings of wild and scenic landscapes from California to Florida, with a special emphasis on the Eden-like, arboreal and riparian vistas of Myakka River State Park. Her Myakka-themed painting, “Clay Gully Creek,” was exhibited at the American Ambassador’s residence in Rome, as part of the United States’ Department of State’s Art-in-Embassies Exhibition Program. Klein also participated in the Grand Canyon’s Celebration of Art in 2011 and 2015 and has been invited to return in 2016. Her works now hang in the permanent collections of 10 national parks. This exhibition will feature recent landscape paintings inspired by Klein’s travels to national parks and her love of the local wilderness. The artist shares that, “Nothing makes me feel so alive, so safe, and so at peace with myself as to be surrounded by and immersed in nature. I try to share my experience of place in my art. Each landscape is special and specific to a given place and time.” For more information about Klein’s work, visit www.susanjkleinart.com.
A third-generation Florida native, Jean Blackburn is a painter, printmaker, photographer and naturalist who grew up on Anna Maria Island. Her art celebrates nature and the joys of human life and ranges from photorealist vignettes of the fractal intricacies of water to magical realist visions of a childhood in the relatively unspoiled Sunshine State. In this exhibit, Blackburn will show works from her ‘Springs’ series of paintings reflecting springs the artist finds ” irresistible and magnetic.” She says in recent years, the water paintings “have moved away from recognizable objects into abstraction where the formal concerns of rhythm, color, value and spatial elements compete with the undeniable allure of wild water. Most important is to bring about the recognition of a treasure that we may be losing because of environmental degradation.” For more information, visit www.jeanblackburn.com.
Sculptor Joe Segal creates thought-provoking, minimalist wall sculptures that reflect his reverence for raw nature. Working primarily with reclaimed wood, he explores the elusiveness of nature and the passage of time. “I work with lumber as a starting point to create my sculptures,” says Segal. “This material is a metaphor for humanity’s relationship with nature. When found in nature, wood appears in wildly different forms and with various patterns. Then we homogenize it into identical dimensions to create lumber. This act of harvesting and processing nature for our own utility is the essence of our connection to the natural world.” For the pieces in this exhibition, the St. Augustine-based artist uses layers of color to “reiterate a sense of evolution.” Segal’s work is represented in many private and corporate collections, including The Forbes Collection in New York, The Lowe Museum in Coral Gables and The Bass Museum in Miami. For more information, visit www.joesegal.com.
About Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art
Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art was established in 1991. Since the beginning, its founder, Allyn Gallup, has been committed to providing serious art to the community. Through this commitment, the gallery has earned the reputation as the leading place in southwest Florida to view contemporary art. The gallery’s collection includes paintings, sculptures, mixed-media assemblages, works on paper and prints by mid-career artists with well-established exhibition records. The gallery also occasionally showcases works by promising emerging artists. Visit www.allyngallup.com.
