A Connecticut Afternoon

I visited Connecticut--Westport and New Haven--about a month ago and posted a lengthy review of the group show, Making Room, curated by Suzan Shutan. Then the storm hit and my afternoon in Connecticut got temporarily pushed down the queue as I turned my attention to Chelsea and the aftermath of the flooding . But I've been wanting to publish this post. So while I'm headed down to Miami, here's a look at the some more of what I saw on a warm and sunny late day in New England.

We start with Amy Simon Fine Art in Westport, a gallery located in a former mill building, where the luminous autumnal palette of Molly Herman's succulent losenges was reflected almost hue for hue along the Sasco River that runs by the gallery.

Molly Herman's autumnal abstraction

The view outside Amy Simon Fine Art

. . . . . .

 

Susan Carr, Untitled, oil on panel, app. 12 x 8 inches

Next we go to Giampietro Gallery in New Haven, which occupies a large space on the ground floor in a factory building where Erector Sets once were made. (The upper floors of the building are filled with artists' studios.) The smaller of the two gallerie held Susan Carr's Recent Work, the larger space,  Elizabeth Gourlay's A Year-long Song. Both shows ran October 12-November 10.

Installation view of both exhibitions, with Carr's in the foreground. Image from the gallery website

I'd known of Gourlay's work for some time (we are both represented online on Geoform) and was eager to see her new work, along with Carr's, which I'd seen for the first time--and loved--during Armory week in March when the gallery brought her work to the Scope fair. Gourlay and Carr played nicely against one another, Gourlay's coolly elegant grids vis a vis Carr's succulent slathers, with chromatic sophistication uniting the two shows. An unexpected element was the late afternoon sun, raking at a not-quite 45-degree angle.

Installation view of Susan Carr's Recent Work. The work on left wall is shown large at the beginning of this review; the work at right is shown large below

Untitled, 2011, oil on panel 14 x 11 inches

View from  Carr's show into the gallery with Gourlay's solo. Carr's painting on the right wall is shown larger below

Untitled, 2011, oilon panel. 11 x 9 inches

Installation view of Elizabeth Gourlay's solo, A Year-long Song, with a closer view below of the work on right

 Open Letter with 4 Forms, 2012, pencil and acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

WIth the previous painting at my back, I shot this installation view, which includes Oranjes 2 in the distance, shown in full view below 

Oranjes 2, 2012, inc, acrylic and pencil on linen, 40 x 40 inches

Of course I peeked into the office to take a closer look at Clint Jukkala's painting, which was visible through the doorway . . . 

Then I saw a trio of Kevin Finklea sculptures (I wrote about his show at the gallery earlier this year) . . . 

. . . which not only dialogued well with Jukkala's painting but absolutely sang in geometric concert with the late afternoon sun, as you can see below