"Painting is my escape from a world of too much noise and information. It’s a way to step away from those inner dialogues that keep us from being truly calm."
- Keith Breitfeller
Adversarial Pigments 03 (Detail), 12" x 12", Oil On Canvas
My work has been influenced by the impressionist, modernist and pointillist. I use figure to ground relationships to deliberately confuse the subject matter, allowing the viewer to find, him or herself, in the artwork. The use of small individual brush strokes and the placement of one color against the next gives an ever changing color palette to the piece.
The theme of my painting has been a search for stillness, a form of meditative calm. Painting is my escape from a world of too much noise and information. It’s a way to step away from those inner dialogues that keep us from being truly calm.
My work is an oasis away from the complexities of modern living where one can reflect on what is essential.
Adversarial Pigments 04, 12" x 12", Oil On Canvas
Keith R. Breitfeller was raised in Catasauqua, a small town in eastern Pennsylvania, in 1952. Keith had a hunger to explore beyond the boundaries of this little hamlet. He harassed his parents until they allowed him to take art lessons in Allentown, a nearby city. Later he attended Kutztown college, then furthering his studies with New York Artist, Marion Pinto. The keystone of his methods was acquired at the Barnstone Studio, a renaissance type Master and Apprentice program. The heavy emphasis on the Golden Section and color theory continues to inform his work.
Residing in Philadelphia, Keith has exhibited locally for 30 years with solo exhibits at Vox Populi, Sande Webster Gallery, Abington Art Center and Perkin’s Center for the Arts. Outside of the region he has shown in Texas, Tennessee, Massachusetts and in Austria. His work is included in many private and corporate collections in Athens, London, Dubai and throughout the Northeast. The last few years he has completed a number of commissions.
Cold Enchantments, 42" x 36", Oil On Canvas
"Keith Breitfeller makes quiet paintings; works that lure you with their whispers of serenity. Everyone loves a good mystery and these do a good job of keeping their secrets."
- Adeaner, tackad
“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.
“My work seeks to find throughlines from the ancient past to present to future. I want to know how things change through time and how they stay the same.”
- Morgan Hobbs
Gross McCleaf Gallery is pleased to present Chronolith, Morgan Hobbs’ first solo exhibition in Philadelphia and with the gallery.
Guest writer Lauren Whearty says: “Hobbs’ body of work focuses on the slow and methodical process of building a language - a new form of communication through paint, papier-mâché, and image. Each symbolic form is a building block for a wide array of possibilities with the potential to make new meaning through different combinations, or to break down the strength of an individual symbol into a more democratic piece of a larger whole.
“The shadows are everything, imbuing unexpected meaning. They are unplanned, undefined, but dependent upon the viewer emotionally or psychologically. Shadows hide and reveal, form emerges and disappears.”
-Eileen Goodman
In her latest solo exhibition, Into Light, Eileen Goodman’s watercolor facility is on bold display. Since her transition away from oil paint in the late ’80s, Goodman has skillfully tamed this temperamental, aqueous media for use in her abundant, large-scale still life paintings. When creating work, she is focused on the basic components of observation, color, light, and shadow. It is only upon reflection, after deep shadows have defined their purpose, that possible interpretations come to light.
“I have a longing for a certain beauty that’s hard to describe, but it’s usually associated with summer colors. My desire for this summertime feeling seems inexhaustible, and though I’ve been trying for many years, I don’t feel like I am ever really satisfied.”
- Kurt Moyer
For over a decade, Kurt Moyer’s work has combined his love of nature with his reverence for art history. Born in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Moyer spent much of his youth exploring the Barnes Collection in Merion, Pennsylvania. Moyer now resides in rural New York near Rochester where he spends his time plein air painting from the beginning of spring until late fall. These passions converge in Moyer’s new abstract paintings on view at Gross McCleaf...
