Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Imagine Sky: Dream in Color

Joe Kaz's wall in "Dream in Color"

 "Dream in Color" - a duo show of Joe Kazimierczyk and Gail Bracegirdle running July 10 - August 3, 2014 at:

Artists' Gallery
18 Bridge Street
Lambertville, NJ
[map & directions]
Gallery hours: Thursday through Sunday 11am-6pm


"Imagined Sky #12"
6x8" oil on linen

This the first show where I've ever had such a strong theme - all of my paintings are cloudscapes and skyscapes.   And of the 25 paintings I'm showing, 21 of them were done from memory and imagination - something I've rarely done before.

I hung a sign on the wall explaining a bit about this series, so here it is:

Imagine Sky

I paint on location quite a bit, and when working this way, one has to paint fast because things can change very quickly - the sun moves, shadows shift, and the scene can look very different minute by minute.  This is true when painting landscapes with trees or buildings, but it's especially true when paintings skies.  Clouds can move very fast, and sunsets can change dramatically second by second.  So even when I paint on location, I'm usually painting the skies from how I remember they looked at a certain point in time.   When memory isn't serving me, I imagine what the sky looked like at that certain moment.

With this in mind, I did a series of "Imagined Skies" painted entirely from memory and imagination..  This gave me the freedom to create works with a certain color scheme in mind, a certain mood, a feeling of quiet stillness, or nature at it's most dramatic...  I had the freedom to try anything I could imagine but I always strove for a strong sense of realism, or heightened realism.

Working on this series, I spent every opportunity I had just looking at skies - the artist's life is a tough one!   Some of these paintings were inspired by sky colors or cloud shapes from memory, some were totally imagined.  I suspect that my own memory is half imagined anyway!

Some of the foregrounds are memories of places that I'm very familiar with - a park I visit often, the field across the street from my home.   And when I now compare those paintings to the actual place, it's not the match one would expect.  Yet the painting feels like the place to me, more so than a photograph would, and this is causing me to reexamine how I define realism - a visually accurate rendition of a place verses an artwork that invokes the spirit of a place - which is more 'real'?

I'll probably continue this series for a while, and hope to use some of the lessons learned in exploring other subjects as well.

Thanks for looking,

Joe Kazimierczyk

Gail Bracegirdle also has a strong theme to her half of the show - watercolor florals done on crinkled paper - you have to see them in person to fully appreciate the texture that the paper adds to the work.

Gail Bracegirdle's wall in "Dream in Color"

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Dream in Color - July at Artists' Gallery in Lambertville, NJ

"Dream in Color"
a 2-person show with Joe Kazimierczyk and Gail Bracegirdle
at Artists' Gallery in Lambertville, NJ

July 10 - August 3, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 12, 5-8 pm
Closing Reception: Sunday, August 3, 2-5 pm
 left: "Sunflower" by Gail Bracegirdle
right: "Imagined Sky #15" by Joe Kazimierczyk


This July I'm teaming up with Gail Bracegirdle for our first show together at Artists' Gallery. The show entitled "Dream in Color" is my biggest show this year so I hope you get a chance to see it.

The show runs July 10 though August 3, 2014 with an opening reception on Saturday, July 12, 5-8 pm at:


Artists' Gallery
18 Bridge Street
Lambertville, NJ
[map & directions]
Gallery hours: Thursday through Sunday 11am-6pm


Gail Bracegirdle is an amazing watercolorist who is always exploring media and technique. For this show, Gail is exhibiting a series of florals painted on crinkled paper. The paper adds a wonderful sense of mystery to the work:

Gail Bracegirdle
"Tulip"
watercolor on crinkled paper



Most of what I'm showing is a new body of work - a series of "Imagined Skies". Skies can change so quickly that when I paint on location, I'm usually painting how I remember the sky looking at some earlier point in time. So I took that idea one step further and created this series of paintings done entirely from memory and imagination. It's the biggest series I've ever painted and I don't think I'm finished yet. I'll be showing a good number of imagined skies - all small works. I'll also be showing a few pieces painted more traditionally, but all with a big emphasis on the sky.

Here are a few of the paintings I'll have in the show:

"Imagined Sky #17"
8x10" oil on linen

"Imagined Sky #3"
5x7" oil on canvas

 
"Imagined Sky #11"
5x7" oil on canvas


If you can't make the opening reception, I hope you can see the show sometime during the month. If you can't make it during normal gallery hours, please let me know and I can arrange to open the gallery at a time convenient for you. Finally, we are having a small closing reception on the last day of the show, Sunday August 3, from 2-5pm.

Hope to see you there!