Martha Armstrong
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 10 - 5 pm
127 S 16th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
215 - 665 - 8138
*We are open Saturday, 5/27 during Memorial Day Weekend
Acadian Cove, Misty Morning, 24" x 24", Oil On Linen
Christine Lafuente: Subtones In Springtime
In Subtones in Springtime, Christine Lafuente explores the parallels between color and musical form in her newest series of paintings. The overlapping terminology between art and music helps to illuminate comparisons between the two fields. Lafuente says , “I begin to transpose visual experience into an imaginary painting experience… like a musician who reads music with the playing of a specific instrument in mind, this kind of looking is experienced in the language of oil color, brushwork, and flatness.” Likewise, Lafuente focuses on the relevance of subtones, which she likens to subconscious presence, or emotional states that can be captured and embedded within her works.
Architectural elements are also expressed through Lafuente’s visual vocabulary. Seascapes and cityscapes are re-imagined on an intimate scale as tablescapes populated with various objects and flowers. When composing a tableau, Lafuente says, “I’m very interested in ‘melodies’ of color that move across a larger color field or key”, and “I tend not to rearrange, but just play the notes I’ve given myself”.
Getting The Sign, 14″ x 18″, Oil On Board
Max Mason: "Play Ball!"
In his newest solo exhibition “Play Ball!” Max Mason returns to the classic subject matter of Major League Baseball with paintings and drawings depicting America’s favorite pastime. Like many contemporary artists, Mason has fruitfully combined his passion for artmaking with an ardent personal interest. Illustrating key moments of the game and the energetic movements of particular players alike, his dynamic compositions arise from stadium seats to capture the excitement and pleasure of a sunny afternoon in the stands.
Each of Mason’s paintings offer something special for the quintessential fan. Some works, such as PNC Park, Pittsburgh, foster a sense of connection to the passage of time by utilizing imagery from old photographs. Others, such as Extra Bases and Richie In Connie Mack, instantly transport the viewer into the present moment through keenly observed kinetic portrayals of players in action. While the paintings are largely representational, Mason employs painterly brush strokes to indicate form...
Kati Gegenheimer, True Northeasterner, 40" x 32", Oil On Canvas
Concerning the Spiritual in Landscape: Group Exhibition
Long before recorded history, humans identified divinity in the natural world. Across the globe, cave paintings and petroglyphs represent the land, the animals and the supernatural. Prehistoric burial mounds and henges of Northern Europe align with equinoxes and solstices. At Newgrange in Ireland, decorated stone carvings record the phases of the moon and depict rays emerging over the horizon at sunrise. Contemporary viewers can only infer the exact meanings of these monumental relics, etched with waves, spirals and diamonds juxtaposed with recognizable imagery.
As contemporary innovation, architecture, technology and design increasingly position each person as the master of their own exclusive universe, the artists in Concerning The Spiritual In Landscape have humbly venerated the life-giving light, ever-present matter and perpetual cycles of nature that bring forth all things.
Martha Armstrong, Larry Francis, Mari Elaine Lamp, Bruce Pollock, Jeffrey Reed and Celia Reisman have found a form of sanctity within cities and suburbs. In their works, highway bridges become cloisters. Powerlines reference crosses from Abrahamic faiths. Glimmering sunlight offers a taste of milk and honey as it streams through familiar manmade structures.
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Max Mason featured in John Thornton's The Spirit of Baseball, New Art by Max Mason
Max Mason is an extraordinary painter, and although he has painted many subjects, baseball is perhaps closest to his heart. He talks about his new show that is an attempt to capture the enduring spirit of the game.
Christine Lafuente featured in John Thornton's Artist Christine Lafuente, Music in Paint
Artist Christine Lafuente has a show of very beautiful painterly landscapes and still lives that are inspired by her love of music. A graduate of Bryn Mawr and the PA Academy of the Fine Arts, Christine is a joy to talk to.
Elizabeth Johnson: On the Gross McCleaf website you describe your still life arrangements as “tiny cities floating on an enamel sea.” This struck me because, while browsing your website, I noticed that you’ve lived and worked near large bodies of water. You write: “I am conjuring up milky fogs in the space around each season’s crop of flowers: tulips, daffodils, peonies, roses, zinnias, ranunculus, lilies.” Would you say that having lived near water influences your tendency to build colorful forms emerging from a silvery or grey backgrounds?
Christine Lafuente: I grew up next to the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, NY. My father grew up in Cuba, which is at the intersection of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea...
Elizabeth Johnson: How do you like Major League Baseball’s new rules: the pitch timer, shift restrictions, and bigger bases?
Max Mason: As an unrepentant traditionalist, I was initially horrified. But after watching a spring training game on TV, I changed my mind on two things: the pitch clock will speed up the pace of play, which is good, and I accepted the size of the bases almost immediately. If the players aren’t complaining and it makes the game safer––what the heck. The shift restrictions, however, are terrible. They reward a limited approach to the art and science of batting...
“I am drawn to subjects that I don’t fully understand visually, that are mysterious, elusive, and at times almost impossible to see clearly.”
-Christine Lafuente
In Subtones in Springtime, Christine Lafuente explores the parallels between color and musical form in her newest series of paintings. The overlapping terminology between art and music helps to illuminate comparisons between the two fields. Lafuente says, “I begin to transpose visual experience into an imaginary painting experience… like a musician who reads music with the playing of a specific instrument in mind, this kind of looking is experienced in the language of oil color, brushwork, and flatness.” Likewise, Lafuente focuses on the relevance of subtones, which she likens to subconscious presence, or emotional states that can be captured and embedded within her works.
Long before recorded history, humans identified divinity in the natural world. Across the globe, cave paintings and petroglyphs represent the land, the animals and the supernatural. Prehistoric burial mounds and henges of Northern Europe align with equinoxes and solstices. At Newgrange in Ireland, decorated stone carvings record the phases of the moon and depict rays emerging over the horizon at sunrise. Contemporary viewers can only infer the exact meanings of these monumental relics, etched with waves, spirals and diamonds juxtaposed with recognizable imagery.
As contemporary innovation, architecture, technology and design increasingly position each person as the master of their own exclusive universe, the artists in Concerning The Spiritual In Landscape have humbly venerated the life-giving light, ever-present matter and perpetual cycles of nature that bring forth all things.
