In this second month-long exhibit of The Associates Gallery or TAG, “FOUR” showing in March in studio 319 brings together painters Jill Finsen and Barbara Muth, Kara Hammond presenting a series of graphite drawings, with digital photographer Julie Patrick to celebrate four associate artists across four weeks revealing four truths about the formation of self-expression utilizing four unique palettes.
Painter Jill Finsen quests for constant artistic evolution. In a recent profile in the Art and the City section of the February edition of The Hill Rag she discusses “finding the suggestion of the original reality.” She uses a palette knife to create distinct and whimsical explorations on the surface of the canvas, seeking both composition and color to balance forms in a style that alludes to the works of the early 20th century American painters and Fauvists. “My paintings,” she notes, “embody a tension between familiarity and abstraction, drawing viewers in, yet leaving unresolved their placement within the imagined space.”
Artist Kara Hammond’s graphic works focus on isolated instances where natural forces intersect with the built environment to reveal unexpected alliances between technology and the flora and fauna. Even in the current state of a degraded pastoral ideal, our surroundings remain latent with unseen existences. By isolating and examining specific interactions through artistic observation, one can see the profound changes humans have made on the landscape and how nature persistently resists our sisyphean efforts to control it. )
Painter Barbara Muth is a people watcher, transferring these scenes to canvas. Her dramatic pieces tell portions of made up stories and contrivances about her subject’s lives, their emotions, and the dynamics of their relationships vis-a-vis each other. Muth’s abstract forms are expressions of her interactions with the world around her. “In general I prefer to leave very few cues about place and time in my works, enabling the viewer to create their own stories about what is happening. They become a personal inkblot of sorts, a tool for the viewer to glimpse within themselves as look at the work.”
Digital photographer Julie Patrick paints with light, slowing down moments to the infinitesimal degree to showcase the dynamic palette of colors created through the interplay of light on water. She seeks in her abstract presentations to blur the viewer’s perception of photography with work reminiscent of paintings, stained glass and other mixed media. Her personal theme is serenity in chaos.
