Duane Reed: Friday, 4 April 2008

The Duane Reed Gallery is excited to present the works of painter and mixed media artist Ken Anderson and of painter Ronald Christ. The exhibitions open Friday, April 4th with a reception to meet the artist that evening from 5 – 8 pm.

Anderson’s current body of work is influenced by textiles from around the world and
consists of dimensional low relief abstract wood assemblages. He uses a reductive
landscape-referenced palette applied with both paints and stains. His artistic intent has to do with transformation, rebirth, and discovery of beauty in the unexpected. Color
and pattern play an important role in his works to create dynamic, energetic motion.
“I have always had a great interest in textiles. My own collection includes Navajo
blankets and rugs, Guatemalan huipils, West African textiles, and African American
quilts like those from Gee’s Bend. I split pine planks and then paint and stain the
pieces that are then reassembled on a backing board. As I experiment with arranging
and rearranging the strips in abstract configurations, woven or pieced textile like
pattern starts to take shape. In the studio, I focus on the abstract formal relationships that balance visual elements like musical notes into an improvisational assemblage. These roughly cut pieces of wood and my use of a limited earthy palette hint at landscape and the natural world as well. It is the juxtaposition of hard and soft as well as the juncture where improvisation meets formal concern that I find most compelling.”

Influenced by the works of master artists such as Giorgio de Chirico and Piero della
Francesca, Ron Christ’s paintings combine elements of the abstract and the very real to
create places he say are, “possible but not probable.” His works deal with themes of
fate, chance, choice, cause, reason and change. Since 1991 Christ’s paintings have
been influenced by aspects of environments experienced, studied and documented in
Italy combined with images of his own invention. “It is important that the paintings
have some connection to actual physical and experiential reality, but also a somewhat
dreamlike, metaphysical and surreal quality.”

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Friday 10-5pm, Saturday 12-4pm.