Studio22 Open Gallery
Blenderman ~ Gordon • PAINTINGS
Two concurrent painting exhibits. New 'Kingston Scenes' by Robert A. Blenderman. 'Syrian Statuary' by Dave Gordon.
Robert A. Blenderman • Kingston Scenes
A new series of fine works, in oil, were painted especially for the fall show at Studio22 Open Gallery. Blenderman's signature technique of blending creativity, richness and colour with feelings of romance, continues to evolve.
"Robert A. Blenderman on Canada's Jewel"
I always thought of Kingston as the jewel that was unknown to the rest of Canada. It had that kind of character that builds over time…
I love Kingston…I resonate with it, I feel a rapport with it all…the old town…the building, the alleyways, the old churches…it's the textures of the red brick and the limestone. Kingston has always had a quality that really appealed to me…not in a pretty sense. Like landscape…its beauty comes from its ruggedness, its power to face time, its colours and of course the water and the light…
Dave Gordon • Syrian Statuary
The 10 paintings in this show were inspired by sculpture I saw in the Syria National Museum in Damascus. The Museum is rated in the top ten in the world and contains artifacts from 33 civilizations going back to 5000 BC – Roman, Byzantine and Arab Islamic collections exhibited side by side. I don't know the story behind the pieces that I photographed – why they were produced or if they were the work of one genius or a committee, but they are incredibly powerful and their expressive force jumps across time from the distant past to the viewer in the 21st century. Until someone comes up with a working time machine museums are the closest we will get to time travel. Gary Snyder, in an essay titled "Entering the Fiftieth Millenium", and discussing much older cave paintings, says "No master realist painter of the last 500 years could better those painted critters of the past: they totally do what they do, without room for improvement."
A number of the sculptures in the museum are missing their heads. My titles reflect this: "Headless Bird God with Heads" and "Headless Calf". Two paintings reflect present day Syria – a landscape depicting the statue of Hafez al Assad on a desolate rocky hillside, and another titled "The Cult of Personality" which shows the head of the ancient god Baal with Bashar al Assad, the current leader.
Dave Gordon is an artist who lives and works in Kingston, Ontario. His work is in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre and Museum London, and private collections.
Regular Gallery Hours: Wednesday to Sunday afternoons 1 to 5 & Friday evenings 7 to 10. Anytime by appointment.
320 King Street E. - 2nd Floor
- 30 -
Studio22 Open Gallery
320 King St. E. , Kingston, Ont.
613.546.7461
866.842.9895
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