Cherries And Peonies, 12" x 12", Oil On Linen
"Returning home, to the rooftop of my studio in Brooklyn, the city spreads itself toward the New York Harbor like an expanse of stony outcroppings and rivulets. As the weather turns cold, I am in the studio, building still life arrangements that are like tiny cities floating on an enamel sea. I am conjuring up milky fogs in the space around each season’s crop of flowers: tulips, daffodils, peonies, roses, zinnias, ranunculus, lilies."
- Christine Lafuente
Great Harbor In Acadia, 30" x 36", Oil On Linen
"The sea is my muse in this recent series of paintings. I have sojourned these past summers to the rocky coast of Maine to paint changing atmospheres across the salty Atlantic waters. I paint deep mysterious fogs, buzzing harmonies of haze, and singing notes on clear sparkling days."
- Christine Lafuente
Pansies And Yellow Dahlia, 10" x 10", Oil On Mounted Linen
Moving between favorite places keeps what could be an insular process open and ever-changing. The memory, rhythms, and architecture of one place change how Lafuente sees the next, as these cumulative experiences keep her growing as she returns to the familiar. Whether depicting misty coves of the Maine coast, rooftops in Brooklyn, or seasonal flowers in the studio, Lafuente creates form and space through drawing, passages of color, and precise yet expressive edges. Her paintings revel in a joyful and luscious brushwork while creating a beautiful tension between moments of restraint and excitement.
Christine Lafuente is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and received her certificate in painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. After spending years in Philadelphia where she was artist-in-residence at the Fleisher Art Memorial, Lafuente moved to Brooklyn and completed her MFA at Brooklyn College in 2004. She has exhibited her work throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and had a solo exhibition in London, England in 2008. Lafuente has been represented by the Gross McCleaf Gallery since 2002.
When Christine Lafuente set out to paint her latest series of works in Puerto Rico in March 2020, she never fathomed what would transpire over the next few months. The trip was planned a year prior after having visited the country for a workshop and finding that the cities reminded her of her late father’s home country of Cuba, which he left to go to university in the United States and was unable to return.
Lafuente had planned to explore San Juan, learning more about the people, the architecture and the culture, in hopes of making a deeper connection to a similar ancestry as her own. Soon after she arrived for what was supposed to be a shorter trip, Lafuente was locked down in the country and stayed for several months because of the pandemic. Her work, which she had hoped would reflect the vibrancy and beauty of the city at a more intimate level, shifted to views from the windows of the terrace apartment she rented. The work created was more internal but still filled with the bold architecture and bright sunlight.
Gross McCleaf Gallery is pleased to announce two solo exhibitions of new paintings by gallery artists, Christine Lafuente and Joseph Lozano and a group exhibition featuring the work of Melanie Fischer, Kati Gegenheimer, Eileen Goodman, Elizabeth Hamilton, Ying Li, Jonathan Mandell, Irene Mamiye, Lynn Muchnick, Scott Noel, Barbara Sosson, and Frank Trefny.
Christine Lafuente is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and received her Certificate in Painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. After spending years in Philadelphia where she was artist-in-residence at the Fleisher Art Memorial, Lafuente moved to Brooklyn and completed her MFA at Brooklyn College in 2004. She has exhibited her work throughout the Mid-Atlantic region in numerous solo shows and had a solo exhibition in London, England in 2008. Lafuente has been represented by the Gross McCleaf Gallery since 2002. . .
Gross McCleaf gallery was founded in 1969 by Estelle Shane Gross, and the Rittenhouse Square Gallery has celebrated a half-century legacy of female leadership.
"This was really at the beginning of what would become a rich gallery scene in Philadelphia," says gallery owner and director, Rebecca Segall, who adds that Gross started with the idea of a New York City-style gallery, but then began supporting local artists. . .
