Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art Presents
Fall Abstractions
November 4-December 2
The exhibit features abstract works by Hugh Davies, Gary Oglander and Syd Solomon.
(Sarasota, FL) Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art gallery presents “Fall Abstractions,” November 4-December 2. The exhibit, curated by Mark Ormand, features abstract paintings by Hugh Davies, Gary Oglander and Syd Solomon. A reception, with artists, is Friday, November 4, 6-8 p.m. The gallery is at 1288 N. Palm Ave., Sarasota. For more information about this exhibit, call 941-366-2454 or visit www.allyngallup.com.
Sheila Moore, president of Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, says that exhibit, “displays the many faces of abstraction represented by our artists. Viewers will have an opportunity to experience freedom from form in numerous ways.”
The exhibit showcases two new large abstract paintings and several smaller works by Hugh Davies, an internationally acclaimed artist and faculty member of Ringling College of Art and Design’s fine arts department. According to Davies, his work, “deals with an attempt to reconcile abstraction and some forms of realism. While those two positions seem mutually exclusive, they share common ground, particularly in the use of the picture plane.” The artist adds that his work also investigates the concepts of time, uncertainty and paradox. “I’ve dealt with these themes both consecutively and simultaneously, moving back and forth between them and combining them in various ways and in different media,” he says. “Despite the inherent differences between these three basic archetypes, I’ve tried to use each of them as a metaphor for the condition of uncertainty, the passing of time, and the relation between the generic and the particular.”
Davies has served on the faculties of a number of distinguished art schools, principally Chelsea College of Art (1980-2003), and as a visiting artist/lecturer at many other institutions, including the University of Oxford, Wimbledon School of Art, the University of East London, Brighton University, Bradford College of Art and Design and Camberwell College of Arts. His work has been exhibited in more than 60 group and solo exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the U.K., France, Germany, the United States and Australia. Writing about Davies’ work, William Packer, the distinguished critic of the London Times stated: “Painting was ever a kind of game, one of which the artist is forever, indeed must always, be changing the rules, rules that yet remain always the same. The paint is paint, the surface flat, and to lay the one upon the other is to move into the deep space of the imagination. And Davies, through the games he makes up with each new canvas addresses these eternal ambiguities with a true seriousness and originality.”
Gary Oglander studied theater and film at Goddard College in Vermont, but has been painting and showing his work for over 35 years. His work has been described as displaying a “free-form sense of risk. They are washes of organic color with a milky succulence, accented with his binary dashes of black to achieve a perfect balance and composition.” Oglander’s paintings are in the permanent collection of the Tennessee State Museum, the presidential suite of The Opryland Hotel, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and many other corporate and private collections.
“Colors and shapes of nature direct my marks and composition,” says Oglander. “The work conveys this in a spontaneous organic way. I love the physical act of painting and the laying down of color and texture. There is a moment of magic when this combination of elements becomes visually compelling. I then let the painting direct my actions. I’m moved by location, weather and my general perspectives of the world around me.”
About Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art
Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art was established in 1991. Since then, 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.
