PRESS RELEASE
Gallery Hours: Fri & Sat, 11 am – 4 pm, or by appointment
info@grossmccleaf.com, 215-665-8138
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Jeffrey Reed: Of Time, Light and Change
Exhibition Dates: March 28 – April 26, 2025
Gross McCleaf Gallery is pleased to present Of Time, Light and Change, a solo exhibition of new paintings by artist Jeffrey Reed. Attuned to the interplay of atmosphere, space, and light, Reed continues his practice of capturing the beauty of familiar landscapes through meticulous observation and thoughtful exploration.
For over twenty-five years, Jeffrey Reed has returned to the western coast of Ireland in County Mayo, painting and teaching at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation. This annual practice has enabled Reed to develop a profound connection to the region, prompting nuanced shifts in his artistic approach. He shares, “I often paint at the same locations, which in many ways frees me to respond more to atmosphere and design elements in the landscape,”. Reed’s method involves extensive on-location work that informs his studio practice, allowing him to blend direct observation with strategic refinements.
Reed's newest collection reflects his evolving approach of balancing abstraction and design relationships with his plein air documentation. Evident in paintings such as Lachen Fields and Soft Rain, these works convey the unique essence of Ireland’s ever-changing weather systems through sophisticated color interactions. Through disciplined decision-making, Reed anchors each painting to an objective—such as emphasizing the physicality of structures, the expanse of space, or atmospheric conditions. He states, “When working outside, especially in Ireland, the light and atmosphere are constantly changing, sometimes dramatically. Rather than finding this frustrating, I find it liberating…I had to learn that, as an artist, we are always making decisions…Having an objective unifies the decisions.”
Jeffrey Reed’s art remains a dialogue with nature, embracing the unpredictability and challenges of capturing transient moments. He notes, “…the final painting is very much about the experience and what is discovered in the process,”. The resulting collection reflects Reed’s enduring commitment to exploring light, space, and the quiet discoveries inherent in painting.
Jeffrey Reed received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, studied at the Skowhegan School of Art, and received his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. He has received numerous awards, including a Visual Arts Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and has exhibited widely in the US and abroad. Each summer since 2000 he has returned to the Western coast of Ireland to paint and teach at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation. Reed has been represented by Gross McCleaf Gallery for nearly 41 years, and has shown his paintings in Philadelphia, New York, throughout the East Coast, and in Ireland. He currently lives in Pennsylvania.
Life, Still - Curated by Douglas Martenson
Exhibition Dates: March 28 – April 26, 2025
At first glance, Life, Still suggests the classical still life—carefully composed objects held in quiet contemplation. Yet, the title holds deeper layers of meaning, much like the paintings in this exhibition. It speaks to the act of pausing in stillness, engaging with the everyday, and reflecting on the persistence of life itself. Stillness does not mean stagnation; rather, it is a moment of attention, an embrace of presence, and a connection to what endures.
A recurring visual motif throughout the show is the circle—a form without beginning or end, symbolizing continuity, wholeness, and the cyclical nature of existence. In the works of Nicole Parker, Eileen Goodman, and Douglas Martenson, the circle appears both overtly and subtly, clinging to compositions and reinforcing a sense of movement within stillness. Martenson’s Two Pears and a Bowl nods to historical still life traditions while subtly disrupting them, just as Goodman’s and Parker’s works evoke memory and nostalgia with nuance—each artwork a question as to whether we are looking at a personal past or a broader reflection of time’s passage.
Throughout the exhibition, food—particularly fruit—emerges as a powerful visual thread, echoing themes of abundance, decay, and ephemerality. The paintings invite us to consider how food, often depicted in still life, is never truly "still." It ripens, withers, is consumed, and replenished, paralleling life’s continuous flow. Ted Walsh’s Bowl of Eggs presents a moment of quiet simplicity—fragile, expectant, and hinting at its inevitable change. Carlos Russo’s meticulous technique references the still life traditions of the Dutch Golden Age and American painters like Raphaelle Peale and Paul Lacroix. Yet, Russo’s vivid light and striking color infuse classical realism with renewed vitality, underscoring how the tradition is not static but continually evolving, much like the subjects it seeks to capture.
Extending beyond food, the presence of dishes, bowls, and domestic objects in the exhibition deepens the connection between still life and home—each vessel a silent witness to daily rituals. Crafted with intricate care, Lee’s fiber-based receptacles push the boundaries of materiality, mirroring the delicate relationship between permanence and impermanence that runs throughout the show. Penelope Harris’ Party of Gourds captures a whimsical tabletop scene, where vibrant gourds, partially unwrapped, quietly suggest their inevitable rot amidst a backdrop of plenitude. Through playful composition and theatrical interactions, Harris guides the viewer’s gaze toward a distant cityscape, underscoring the faint but persistent transformations inherent even in life's most ordinary objects and moments.
Scott Noel and Peter Van Dyck play with perspective and point of engagement, challenging the viewer’s relationship to the scene. Van Dyck’s Spice Shelf shifts the focus from food itself to the anticipation of flavor, calling attention to the idea that still life is often about potential rather than presence. Noel’s deliberate cropping and use of negative space introduces quiet tension, prompting viewers to reconsider their spatial and emotional relationships to objects. In the same manner, Elizabeth Geiger reinvigorates the language of Cubism by fragmenting viewpoints and embracing the multiplicity of modern perception—much like how we navigate contemporary life through shifting perspectives.
For Christine LaFuente, the still life becomes a vehicle for color experimentation and expressive paint handling, where objects emerge and dissolve within luminous layers of light. Similarly, Benjamin Passione’s vibrant still lifes elevate color as the primary expressive force, bridging representation with gestural mark-making. His Still Life with Blue and Still Life with Red distill everyday objects down to pure color and forms, allowing pigment itself to take precedence over the depicted subject.
In each of these works, still life is not merely about objects arranged in space—it is about what lingers, what shifts, and what endures. Life, Still reminds us that within stillness lies motion, within the ordinary lies depth, and within the fleeting lies something lasting.