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November Issue 2005
Upstairs Gallery in Tryon, NC, Offers Landscape Exhibition
The Upstairs Gallery, Tryon, NC, will present the exhibition, Night and Day: Different Perspectives on Landscape, on view from Nov. 3 through Dec. 24, 2005, in the Street and Stage Galleries. This long-awaited exhibit of landscape paintings by distinguished artists in the genre launches the holiday season at the Upstairs Gallery. The artists are Matt Alford, Charlotte, NC; Eric Benjamin, Carl Blair, Mark Mulfinger, Greenville, SC; Richard Conn and Keith Spencer, Landrum, SC; Drew Deane, Brevard, NC; Barbara Fisher, Asheville, NC; Jill Jones, Spartanburg, SC; Greg McPherson, Sylva, NC; Brad Simpson, Tryon, NC; and Jamie Davis, Pickens, SC, has ceramic and metal sculpture in the exhibit.
The selected paintings demonstrate that landscapes can be representational and abstract, vividly colorful and nearly monochromatic; they can be about the natural environment and manmade structures. Above all, landscapes can communicate the cheerful brightness of day, the cool of an evening, the softness of dawn and the mystery of night.
"This is a show of intense emotion as well as beauty," says Nancy Holmes, chair of the gallery's exhibits committee. "It proves that a landscape is anything but static!"
A pivotal painting in the exhibit is Brad Simpson's Diverge in which a spectacular sunset (or perhaps sunrise?) floods the canvas. In contrast, a Jill Jones painting of trees in moonlight is a study in black and white spectral shapes and spaces.
Carl Blair's paintings are like jazz improvisation - behind the hot colors, free forms and charged atmosphere are impeccable structure and control. Greg McPherson is the epitome of control in portraying earth and sky. This minimalist artist delivers a horizon like a hammer.
Richard Conn, Drew Deane and Mark Mulfinger are fascinated by buildings, especially at night. Deane is currently painting the motels and their neon signs that survive along the famous Route 66 highway.
Barbara Fisher incorporates iconic and organic landscape forms into her familiar gridlike paintings.
Matt Alford and Keith Spencer draw one into their landscapes with strong brushwork, exceptional use of color and a love affair with trees.
Jamie Davis' abstract sculptures could be the landscape of the planetary system or the sea. It's up to viewer interpretation.
Also at the Upstairs Gallery in the Small Works Gallery is the Festival of Crafts, a show of quality craft at affordable prices created by well-known regional artists. Selected for holiday gift giving, the crafts include jewelry, pottery, glass, wood-turned art, textiles, paper and mixed media.
A "Walk & Talk" tour of the landscape exhibit is scheduled for Nov. 13, 2005, at 2pm.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the gallery at 828/859-2828 or visit (www.upstairsgallery.org).
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