A Total Collapse Of The Sun, 24" x 24", Oil On Canvas Laid On Board
“…they had to be behind him;
said it aloud and heard it fade away.
They had to be behind him, but their steps
were ominously soft. If only he could
turn around, just once (but looking back
would ruin this entire work, so near
completion), then he could not fail to see them,
those other two, who followed him so softly”
-Rainer Maria Rilke, Orpheus, Eurydice, Hermes, New Poems
Cowboy, 24" x 18", Mixed Media
The power of a fragment is in its partiality. The artwork is but an anthropologic artifact that keeps its visitor longing for resolution – in which they become the artist, the reader and the philosopher.
Making art is like a memory in search of an ideal. The work begins where the body does not exist. The materiality of paint negates this simple out-of-body experience and reinserts the viewer, and the painter, into the materiality of history. Negotiating between memory and experience, the constructed image and the visceral process of painting grind against each other in the manifestation of art.
Often, the memories relayed in my work are couched in popular culture and contextualized through a digital lens. I’m interested in the permeation of screen culture in modern society and its effects on our understanding of the world.
Formally, my paintings invoke the form of human figures, as seen through a pigmented veil, to portray a phantasmal interplay of art historical tropes of American Imperialism juxtaposed against lowbrow consumer goods and extrinsic cultural artifacts. The result undercuts and disregards the heroic and reflective motifs of high culture and offers wistful portraits of how masculinity and domesticity coexist now, and in the minds and memories of viewers.
I ask viewers to step back from their smartphones and arrive anew in this age of florescent and distracted media, to consider the disjointed ways in which we are inundated with frenetic images from all sides.
Punch, 20" x 36", Oil On Board
Philadelphia Based Painter
(b. 1982, Philadelphia, PA)
Lozano’s path as an artist began when he was invited to work with Tim Rollins and Kids of Survival (KOS), subsequently becoming a member of KOS. He received an MFA the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), Philadelphia, PA in 2009 and a certificate in painting at PAFA in 2007. He has exhibited extensively in the north east and is the recipient of numerous awards. He is a recipient of the Wolf/Khan painting fellowship to attend the Vermont Studio Center. He teaches painting at Immaculata University and lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two children.
Jacob & Esau, 28" x 26", Oil On Board
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Gross McCleaf Gallery invites you to experience the magic of summer with a group exhibition titled Summer Playlist. Curated like a finely tuned mixtape, this vibrant selection of works explores seasonal themes of celebration, relaxation, and engagement with nature.
“I believe artists must make space for pleasure in painting, both in the act of painting and in the pleasure of viewing it.”
-Lauren Whearty
In her first solo exhibition with Gross McCleaf Gallery, titled Painter’s Table, Lauren Whearty celebrates cheerful color and playful patterns in a contemporary take on the artistic tradition of still life painting. With a keen eye for possibilities within this genre, Whearty embraces a feminist perspective, using everyday objects as building blocks to create her own distinctive universe. Each item she incorporates becomes a referential exploration of art history and the process of image creation, adding depth and meaning to her work.
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. . .
