Narrative Fragments

Narrative Fragments
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Quidley
Fine Art
38 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02116
617.450.4300
www.QuidleyAndCo.com
Narrative Fragments
September 20 - October 20, 2012
The exhibition Narrative Fragments highlights a form of veiled storytelling where the artist conveys complex figurative works that depict grand
story arcs, while compressing a multitude of thoughts, ideas and emotions into a static singular image. Assembling the work for this exhibition necessitated exploring a vast amount of artistic terrain, culminating
in this international, mini-survey of contemporary narrative painting.
As you walk through the gallery and ponder the various paintings, you
may feel the urge to discern the precise interpretation the artist intended.
I believe unreservedly that there is no right or wrong answer to this query.
Each of us possess unique and valid perceptions which I encourage you
to embrace as you reflect upon the art presented.
Andrea Kalinowski, Director
Zachary Thorton With the Trees, oil on panel, 18 x 43 inches (cover)
Ilya Zomb Gathering Curiosities, oil on linen, 46 x 32 inches
Realism is multifaceted. Over the centuries, multiple trends, tendencies, and directions developed, merged, and intertwined. As I identified my art being an integral part of this general style,
I tried to define my place within it. In my works I often depict situations that cannot occur in
real life but become possible in the presence of patience, irony, and desire to see them happen.
They are pseudo-real. Therefore, I define my form of realism as pseudo-realism, where impossible is not only possible but also sensible and plausible. - Ilya Zomb
Robert Schefman Maintaining Tin, oil on canvas, 44 x 32 inches
Philip Buller Charlotte
oil on linen on panel, 48 x 56 inches
Tiina Heiska Girl with Red Shoes, oil on canvas, 32 x 24 inches
Karen Ann Myers Southwestern Medallion Bed and
Diamond Rug, oil on panel, 24 x 36 inches
I am investigating the psychological complexity of women through intimate observations in the bedroom. The work is inspired by the cult of beauty in contemporary
mass media. Intricately painted, decorative interiors are invented to titillate the viewer.
- Karen Ann Myers
Shaun Downey Yellow Bicycl
le, oil on panel, 31 x 60 inches
Jeremy Long Backyard Summe
er, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches
Lu Cong Makena, oil on panel, 30 x 30 inches (above)
Lu Cong Jodi Lynn, oil on panel, 40 x 30 inches (right)
Jennifer Presant Final Have
Thematically, my paintings address the complexity of memory, by
blurring and questioning the lines between recollection, projection,
and reality. Each painting becomes a psychological landscape or waking dream, examining the notion of “reality”. The shifting environments become a metaphor for the transience of our experience and
the indelible impressions they leave in us.
en, oil on linen, 23 x 42 inches
I transform the room by using projections of various places or figures
on the walls, in essence creating a virtual extension of the space. By
combining layers of images, I explore how a room can be transformed
to create an experience that is multilayered and time-based for the
viewer. The movement of the interiors and exteriors overlapping and
shifting into one another is meant to mimic the real life experience of
memory distorting and influencing the present. - Jennifer Presant
Forrest Solis Broad Hips
oil and acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24 inches
It takes an object, a quirky bizarre little thing, to inspire me to paint. For me these objects,
often childhood memorabilia, are emblematic of the complex nature of being a modern
woman. Through the figure I strive to understand and make sense of numerous personal
and political contradictions. With this I play many roles: the child, the adolescent, the
young adult, the woman and the mother. The time and space is psychological; it is formed
of broken childhood memories and adult desires where the past, present and future collide. I am interested in this collision, not only in content, but also in form. I fragment the
picture plane and create simultaneous realities: illustrated lessons from late 19th c. and
early 2oth c. heirloom books, which focus on teaching behavioral lessons to children and
adolescents and a representational depiction of a contemporary figure in response to the
text. This juxtaposition creates a paradox; the graphic images are bright and sweet, but
combined with the text and the figure they underlie a darker more complex message. The
uncanny, according to Freud, arouses initial feelings of fright or terror before revealing a
sense of comfort in familiarity. I suggest the reverse, that our nostalgia for simpler times
belies our horror, simultaneously attracting and repelling. - Forrest Solis
Forrest Solis Chapter IV: Sleep
oil and acrylic on canvas, 42 x 54 inches
Tracey Harris Self Help for the People Around You
oil on panel, 18 x 24 inches (above)
Jeremey Miranda Night Harvest, oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches (left)
David Graeme Baker Causew
way, oil on panel, 24 x 40 inches
Philip Buller Lost, oil on canvas on panel, 48 x 60 inches
Jeff Hein Life #1, oil on panel, 30 x 14 inches
Lindsay Larremore 2:29PM, oil on panel, 11 inches in diameter
Lindsay Larremore 8:31PM, oil on panel, 11 inches in diameter
Annie Dover Blue Bar, oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches
Duncan Hannah The Shipwreck Boys, oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches
Duncan Hannah, a Minneapolis-born Anglophile, summons the spirit of a British
esthetic throughout his oeuvre. His recurring subjects, drawn from early to midcentury cinema and literature, include vintage sports cars tooling around the English
countryside, the reclusive British film star Nova Pilbeam, and his invented group of
adventure-book heroes, the Shipwreck Boys.
Hannah is a New York-based figurative painter who has had 50 solo exhibitions in
the United States and England since his debut in 1981. He attended Bard College in
the early 1970s when the art world was dictated by mass culture and conceptualism,
whereas his work was a harkening back to an idealistic era where simplicity and romanticism reigned.
Hannah’s paintings are represented in collections both nationally and internationally, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Chicago Art Institute, and Mick
Jagger’s private collection. Duncan Hannah is the recipient of the 2011 Guggenheim
Fellowship.
I draw my subject matter from my experiences of raising my
son from birth, on my own. My figurative images of women appear powerful (and sometimes snarky) and began as a
nagging complaint. The complaint was, “How am I going to
get everything done, day to day?” The women are depicted
with the feminine lexicons of rubber gloves used for doing
the dishes, feather dusters and perhaps holding a variety of
hammers and other tools. I soon realized my work was more
of a celebration in that “Yes, I can get this done day after day“.
Recognizing that perhaps only in this time in history could I
have been able to create a life as a full time painter and mother
and I cherish that independence.
One thing I enjoy about the art work is that when someone
encounters the work for the first time, there is laughter and a
universal understanding of the difficulties in life and the importance of laughing at oneself. There is so much that can be
endured through humor, as I feel I do. It is only natural to put
it in the work. - Tracey Harris
Tracey Harris Just Desserts, oil on panel, 36 x 36 inches
Michael Leonard Crouching Man, oil on panel, 22 x 17 inches
Caitlin Hurd Family Portrait, oil on canvas, 60 x 84 inches
Gary Ruddell Learning To Trust
oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches (above)
Gary Ruddell Blue Money, oil on canvas,f 54 x 52 inches (left)
Shaun Downey The White Dress, oil on panel, 48 x 26 inches
Lucy Gaylord Lindholm Russian Typewritter, oil on panel, 11 x 14 inches
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Quidley
Fine Art