Self Portrait As Penitent (SOLD)
40" x 42"
Acrylic, Charcoal And Ink On Paper Mounted On Panel
"My paintings can be viewed as an offering to my female deities, or as a vision divinely granted."
- Sterling Shaw
Groping, 30" x 22", Mixed Media On Paper
I grew up in a very religious household steeped in Christian patriarchy. However, my early life was overflowing with wonderful, strong women. Women are the ‘heroes’ in my life: my support, my teachers, my wise counselors, my advocates. This juxtaposition against the backdrop of a patriarchal church and society, made me yearn to create my own matriarchal mythology.
The women in my paintings are deities - major, minor, lesser, semi and demi, similar to the gods of ancient Greece. The divine figures of my paintings usually have their faces covered, as a viewer may only be permitted to see her with her permission.
I paint women exclusively (though I occasionally make an appearance), working from a model and inserting an atmosphere to support the figure, drawing inspiration from collage. My paintings can be viewed as an offering to my female deities, or as a vision divinely granted. I intend my paintings to be an exploration of what happens when patriarchal imagery is replaced with matriarchal figures.
"My images come from stream of consciousness drawing. I work first in charcoal, which is where each deity is born and takes it first identity before being developed into a painting.Though I technically create these deities, I prefer to think of them as being revealed to me, and I am a subject paying homage."
Plague Of Frogs, 40" x 43", Acrylic And Charcoal On Mounted Paper
Pompeii, 20" x 20", Acrylic On Panel
Sterling Shaw is a product of Philadelphia’s public school system. He received his certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of The Fine Arts in 2004 and MFA in 2020. His work has been exhibited at The Painting Center New York, The Woodmere Art Museum, Delaware Center For Contemporary Art, Rosenfeld Gallery, The Main Line Art Center, Seraphin Gallery, Artists House Gallery and Gross McCleaf Gallery.
Select prizes include: Woodmere Endowment Fund Memorial Prize 2012, The Betsy Meyer Memorial Prize 2006, William Emlen Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship 2004. His work belongs to various private and public collections, including the permanent collection of The Woodmere Art Museum, the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection.
He is currently working from a studio in South Philadelphia.
“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.
“Landscape is indeed an inspiring subject to someone who values surprise, change, nuance, and natural processes. Landscapes are intrinsically creative forces. First, they evolve as complex systems from the interactions of geologic, biotic, and climatic forces over time. Then, when experienced as subjective witnesses, landscapes offer a light unique to that moment. The observer sees not just with her eyes but with layers of knowledge, familiarity, emotions, and, most crucially, curiosity.”
-Thomas Paquette
On Nature features over thirty new landscape paintings from Gross McCleaf artist, environmentalist, and explorer, Thomas Paquette. Brilliant arrays of color depict lush terrain, hazy mountains, rushing rivers, and panoramic vistas, where subtle and sensitive details in light and atmosphere are perfectly captured.
“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...
“I was here.
You were here.
I am here. You are here.
Stars aligned.
Stars align.”
In her paintings, Kati Gegenheimer uses color, pattern, decoration, and symbolism as ways to express love, ritual, and radical sentimentality. Her sensitivity to touch and brushwork on the canvas as a love letter to being present in a moment; asking us to slow down to see the everyday magic that we often only glance out of the corner of our eye - a shimmer, a twinkle, a cloud passing in the blue sky, a butterfly hovering to look at you. Gegenheimer emphasizes this need to be present in the moment. She writes:
“Time stopped when you entered the room.
You are here for a reason, at this very moment.
Some would say it is luck, others would say it was meant to be.”
Gross McCleaf Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new paintings by gallery artist, Douglas Martenson and a group exhibition featuring the work of Brian Boutwell, Betsy Eby, Deirdre Murphy, Celia Reisman, Rebecca Segall, Sterling Shaw, Michayel Thurin, Alexandra Tyng, and Leigh Werrell, curated by Douglas Martenson.
Douglas Martenson paints observationally in various locations in Maine and Pennsylvania. He meticulously documents the light, atmosphere and environment of each view through a variety of painting techniques. While the painted objects appear with local color firmly established, a sensitive eye will begin to perceive deep reds, light purples, golds, chromatic grays and a spectrum of ever-present blues. Martenson’s careful handling of paint opens up worlds within each object, giving way to a conceptual interpretation over time.
